


Cetaceans

by BizzyInaBanjo18



Category: Original Work
Genre: Animals, Blood, F/M, Marine Mammals, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:08:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28960713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BizzyInaBanjo18/pseuds/BizzyInaBanjo18
Summary: Hunter comes from a prestigious English family, the LionHearts. Business is the main source of their fortune. However, Hunter aims to go his own way: he is an aspiring proprietor of a marine animal sanctuary. His main goal is to create an idiosyncratic area for animals and humans to co-exist, but his inner LionHeart may be the source for an ulterior motive.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Blue Hour

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I wrote this because I like marine animals. If I get anything factually incorrect I'm sorry.

**A black fish swims freely through the ocean. As natural as a black fish can get. It comes across something rather unnatural however on it’s swimming endeavour. An obscure specimen that is alien to a black fish. It is a plastic bag, of course. The black fish doesn’t like it, it isn’t something the black fish had come across before. Why would they favour a specimen they’ve never seen before? The black fish pauses then thinks nothing more of it, and continues to swim. A black fish shouldn’t have to know what a plastic bag is, a black fish shouldn’t have to know about a man-made creation or face the detriment that a man-made creation would cause. But that’s how it is. And so, the black fish swims on, not knowing whether or not they’ll encounter a man-made creation in the future.**

C.LionHeart waters was a prosperous business and major threat for fellow tourist attractions, with around a 100 different species, and a team of over 400. There was adequate space to accommodate all. Some argued not enough, but C. LionHeart waters strongly disagreed and consequently disregarded any critiques or queries from animal rights activists or just the inquisitive general public. They believed they were a key figure in the animal rights movement.

With some animals sharing, there were 41 tanks. Most of them contained 400,00 gallons of water. The main pool however, 50 meters long and 40 meters wide, contained 800,000 gallons. Hunter LionHeart (the founder) was frequently questioned about the dimensions of the tanks; is this right for them? And he emphatically reassured the curious with the same answer ‘If we had the ocean in our hands, we would give it to them. But we do not, so we’re compensating by smothering them with the praise and affection they deserve by working with us.’ This answer was always delivered with a proprietorial undertone. Hunter grew up liking animals, more specifically marine mammals.

He was intrigued by their evolution. How can one thing just change to this alien being that has no resemblance to its ancestors? He thought they were like us. Never satisfied, so always having to change, adapt to new life. Curious, adventurous creatures.

Business ran in the family for years, and so Hunter was taught at a young age how to start one the right way - if, of course, he had the money. Amanda LionHeart, Hunter’s maternal grandmother, started her own textiles manufacturing company, LionHeart Stitches, which in 1958 was almost unheard of: women, starting their own businesses before their husbands. Frank LionHeart, Hunter's maternal grandfather, was the proud proprietor of a pub (now bistro) chain, Golden Rings, between 1960 and 1970, before he sold it off and retired. Hunter's mother, Caroline, did not own a business, however it’s safe to say that she was not a disappointment to the LionHeart dynasty; she was in the top ten list of the most successful psychiatrists in southern England.

It was rumoured that she might start her own practise; she would know who to go to for help. Hunter had a lucky childhood - an expensive education - only for him to pursue education no further than he had to.

His genius was never really reflected in his academic grades, he was good with numbers, decent at extracurriculars like football. however from a teachers perspective he wasn’t the best at getting his point across, very contradictory and indecisive in his essays, but only a few teachers could recognise this. Many thought he was extremely persuasive. Unfortunately in Hunter’s case, the teachers that saw through his articulate and verbose nonsense were the ones who graded him. He left school at 16 in the hopes of earning money.

Due to parental worry and scepticism, Caroline offered him an apprenticeship and a large amount of cash to start his business. Hunter refused. Caroline must’ve had a moment where she forgot the fundamental principle in the LionHeart family: success should be earned by true diligence. Hunter's story is a prime example of choosing to work your own way up. But working your way up to an ethically or morally acknowledged operation? That’s up for interpretation. He worked hard, I’ll give him that, anyone could, and there’s no denying that near the beginning no malicious intent ever consciously lingered in his mind.

Like I said, business ran in the family, ingrained in each and every LionHeart offspring - whether they utilised it or not was up to them. Hunter was among the ones that did, and successfully so (for an ephemeral time period). One reason I think it was so successful was that he had an interest (and an additional skill passed down to him): animals. If destiny is true, it was certainly the case for Hunter - he knew what he wanted to do and almost naturally knew how to get to it. He worked at Lolita’s Kitchen through his late adolescence; waiting tables, smiling, cleaning, making his colleagues - as well as the customers - laugh, watering the plants. Lolita stated in his reference, ‘Hunter was everything a 17-year-old boy had the ability to be’. Hunter, and his later employers, supposed and assumed this statement was made with the purpose of complimentary evaluation. Temporary office jobs, gym administration, and even a bank were occupations Hunter had until he reached the age of 23. This was when he decided to run away from his grandiose family to start his own journey.

He settled on a slot in a small rural town called Jardim on the Southern-Coast of Portugal where he bought his ranch. The ranch was underwhelming, mostly fields of fruit trees,considering the vision he had for it in the future. But Hunter was open to adapting. Getting a business loan from the bank back in London was hard, no doubt about it - a 23-year-old kid with standard qualifications - but with the business genetic came other beneficial characteristics, charisma, persuasion, and wit. Perhaps the additional weight in the banks mind that if they don’t accept, the LionHearts will be after them. The bank was obviously oblivious to the LionHeart fundamental principle: diligence. Hunter worked for eight years, determined he would have enough money to start his park. He was a smart guy, however it is not unheard of for juvenile minds to make irrational decisions. He had no money for animals, no tanks. He had moved to Portugal on his own to a ranch, not knowing any Portuguese or even having much knowledge about the country itself.

**‘We are unable to know and tell you where they all come from before purchasing them; some may come from other parks, some may come from the sea, however I can proudly assure you that they are treated in an ethical, humane way by our trainers at the least; they are like family who we develop close relationships with because we see and work with them almost every day. We would never allow family to hurt. Wherever they have come from, the horrors they may have witnessed or undergone, they’re in a safe place now.’**

1970 was the year of the notorious whale captures in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island, 35 years before Hunter moved to Portugal. 80 orcas captured, only for 7 of them to be sold to marine parks. This did, of course, spark controversy, but evidently not enough, for marine parks were still thriving. And so, the captive orca family trees began. It is not a mystery as to why humans develop an interest with these animals, not with their intelligence, their strange but wonderful appearance, their trainability and of course cuteness. Hunter went to a marine park for the first time when he was six years old (his mother bought them tickets to America), mesmerised by the agile movements they made in the water and envious of the trainers who got to work with them. They got to ride them like a surfboard, as they took you under and then fountained up in the air for at least five seconds, plenty of time to see the crowd’s dumbfounded and astounded expressions on their pint-sized faces. The strange and potent combination of the chlorine, fish, and hotdog fragrance could only be smelled there. He was going to do this, but better. Of course he’d do it better.

The business loan was mostly used to pay for Hunter’s living arrangements. Truthfully, he had little money to spend on tanks, water, facilities for people to eat, let alone any animals. Hunter felt fairly alien to this lifestyle, for he has been living comfortably his whole life. He took a job in a café called Refresco; the thought of learning Portuguese never crossed his mind. It was almost as if he thought once he started the business up the locals will have to but most importantly want to learn English. It was there that he met Cassie Morgan; a young American lady, eyes of bright, piercing ocean blue and creamy blonde hair. She was 22 and had just graduated from the University of central Florida with a degree in media studies. She was living in Portugal to get inspiration for book ideas but ran out of money - perhaps, like Hunter, it was on impulse. She got a job at the same café a few weeks prior to Hunter’s introduction. Hunter thought she was a kind girl, but he had to admit, those eyes were somewhat frightening.

‘What made you come to Portugal?’ Cassie asked, after a long hard first day for Hunter. The manager, Mr Sumar, was not so keen on employing a foreigner who could not speak Portuguese, however he needed the extra hands, and so he encouraged Cassie to take Hunter under her wing, even though she has only been working there for three weeks herself.

‘I’m making something here,’ Hunter explained.

‘Ah, but why Portugal? London seems a reasonable place to stay,’ she replied.

‘I’m building somewhat of an animal sanctuary,’ he told her. ‘Whales and dolphins hopefully being the main species.’

‘Whales!? How on Earth will you get a whale in a car?’ Cassie asked, eyebrows raised in an angular shape like an upside down tick.

‘I don’t know yet..but I will.’

Cassie grinned, as if she was intrigued to watch him do it: grab a whale, fling it on top of a second-hand Vauxhall, drive it around. Even that is enough to make people give you money.

‘Well, I’d like to be there with you when you do okay? This place is pretty but something like that will spice things up.’ Her grin contracted into a chocolate-box smile.

They vacated the Refrescos premises through the staff-only door side-by-side. Cassie loosened the rope of her apron and slid her head out of the loop. Hunter did the same.

‘This is a nice town, beautiful beach. I’ve always loved the beach; building sandcastles as a kid was always the highlight of my summers, I can imagine yours weren’t dissimilar?’ There was a slight authoritative undertone in Cassie’s voice, like she was examining and taking in all that she could from Hunter's appearance and responses. Investigative. 

‘Surprisingly, I was never much fond of the beach - scared of the unpredictability of the waves, I don’t even know why I came to this town even, my animal sanctuary is more like an internal compromise.’ Hunter glanced back at Refrescos; the day was getting darker and there were few noises hovering through the street.

‘I’m no expert in the language of Portuguese, but old Sumar o’er there seems like a bit of a dick, don’t ya think?’

This made Cassie giggle, but quietly, as if the founder of Refrescos himself was standing right behind them.

‘I’ll be your translator from now on. okay?’ Cassie said this as if she was simultaneously finishing up Hunter's superficial examination.

Hunter nodded exaggeratingly.

‘You like making people laugh?’ Cassie raised her eyebrows once again like an upside down tick, giving her eyes an even bigger spotlight.

Hunter didn’t answer; instead, he just decided to break into an almost spot-on impersonation of Mr Sumar for someone which just met him that made Cassie giggle as she playfully whipped her apron on Hunter’s left arm.

They trotted jovially along the quiet main street of the town. The newly appointed young workers of Jardim’s most well-established café now had a side job: mocking and joking about their senior colleagues whom they disliked. They didn’t get any extra pay for that but they did it nonetheless.

Cassie told him all about her travelling endeavours, her aspirations for being a travel writer, and how she has always wanted to go to Europe since she was a little girl, and now finally was. She was quite the linguist, knowing three languages fluently, and she could partially understand Japanese. Portuguese, conveniently was one that she was fluent in. They grew fond of each other; Cassie never met a guy as driven (but not in an extreme, obnoxious way - more of a sweet, effervescent way) as Hunter, and Hunter never met a woman so calm and laid-back. Cassie worked with him for at least two months before he asked her on a date. Hunter knew how to ask for things, so when she said yes, he was rather excited, but not surprised. He took her to Alves’, opposite the café they met at. She was pretty, very pretty - the type of face used to advertise skin care products, dental care or maybe just to tell people: _we are not all sad_. Over dinner, he told her his vision for the future: to create a place where animals and humans coexist with each other. Swim parallel together, learn, teach, and bond with them the way no one would expect from humans and animals. Cassie could see his devotion for this animal sanctuary, but in a way it just didn’t seem right. He loved talking about the dolphins, sea lions, orcas, but did he care about them? Cassie could not tell and would not dare to ask; she did not need to anyway, because she would later find out the answer. After dinner, they went to the beach. Cassie saw the vibrant lights reflecting off the sea being dissipated by the sudden waves.

‘You can’t recreate this y’know,’ Cassie whispered as Hunter gazed among the circumference of the sun piercing passed the horizon.

Hunter instantaneously knew what she was talking about.

‘I have no intention of doing so, people will choose to go to my park rather than the sea, because what I am making isn’t something the sea or any marine park will be able to compete with’. Hunter drew a kind, confusing smile before leaning in to kiss her gently; first on the forehead and then on the lips.

They walked across the sea front together. Blue hour arose in the sky, which sparked some excitement in Cassie. Her pace gradually increased until she began to run, and she looked back at Hunter with a light smile. Hunter almost tripped up but Cassie's robust and firm grip stabilised him. She was close enough to tug at his light blue Ralph Lauren polo shirt, heaving him forward. The bottom of Cassie's purple jumpsuit began to absorb the puffs of sand created by the steps of her sandals. They ran together in a straight line for around 100 or so metres until Cassie directed them to the sea. Equally big smiles remained on their faces as they dived under the ocean’s surface. Hunter kept his eyes firmly shut, he had never been able to open his eyes in open water, he was not missing much though. Cassie could see nothing but dark-blue yet the depth they were in still held subliminal significance over the two swimmers. Something rubbed against Hunters bare shin, whether it was a small fish or a strand of seaweed, he couldn’t tell. Cassie was customarily appointed the leader, guiding Hunter through this aquatic trail. Hunter had felt epiphanic euphoria fall upon him. He’d never experienced wild but short adventures like this in his adolescence; he was primarily fixated on making money. Maybe he was the first to experience such an exploration at this age in his family. Cassie pulled them up to the surface, they looked around. Hunter had no idea where they were. The current must have swiped them further west to a more tranquil, less tourist-infested part of the elongated coast that was Jardim beach. Cassie could sense his disorientation and brushed back the dangling hair concealing his green eyes. Her own eyes effervesced from her pale-pink face and Hunter felt like he was diving again through the dark-cerulean ocean.

‘You create something like that for me, okay?’ She splashed a handful of water on his face.

The salt water caused an acrimonious sting on Hunter's face. He didn’t mind. His shirt was soaked through and the fabric caused a discomfort on his cold skin, but he found he didn’t mind that either. Hunter's confusion left his face and he felt safer around her. They retreated back to land, their home.

**‘Why should we need scientists? Yes, they offer specialist knowledge, but this is not the intention of our facility. Marine parks put on a façade of veterinary and zoological research; we want the people to see for themselves how they are, how they play, learn, talk, smile, cry. Ethics is an aspect in life which is so broad, vast and vague no one will ever know how to make the world a better place for living things with no voice; for whom we are unable to communicate with in a sufficient manner. Therefore, our operation is continuing for the foreseeable future’.**

Cassie and Hunter combined accumulated an amount of money to just about live on the ranch. There was a tiny villa in which Hunter lived in. Cassie decided to stay with him and help build up his business for at least a few months. She grew to fall in love with him, as he did her. Some local people offered to help raise money, Mr Sumar included, figuring that a new attraction would bring more tourists in.

Together they spent a sentimental summer growing trees across their - though they never referred to as ‘theirs’, but it was almost implied, since Cassie spent so much time there - ranch. More blue hours occurred, which consisted of chasing each other through the fields and forests surrounding their aspiring project. Cassie was the more physically gifted out of both of them so was always far ahead in their treks. Hunter constantly reassured Cassie that this arboreal commune would be theirs one day. Many mornings of playfully throwing buckets of water over each other’s sweltering heads after a long day of painting walls, unfilled pools and benches all cerulean blue. The dimensions were not as big as they are now, but not bad for a small constituency. Hunter felt that those divine months were surreal, star dust in a little treasure box that he would keep locked in his mind forever.

Only one thing left in the checklist before they could open; animals. Hunter did not know how to even begin looking. One thing about Hunter was that he was adamant in not going down the exotic pet trade. Crazy hillbillies dressing tigers up in fairies and tiaras, sitting chimpanzees on a baby’s high chair. Crazy. He didn’t want to end up like them, but he didn’t want to end up like the others either, or the scientists. The scientists were the good guys but too smart; the crazy hillbillies were the easiest of them but too dumb (and crazy), and the marine parks were the money makers but the evil ones. He wanted to fit somewhere in between the triangle of the captive wild-animal loving world.

He knew that not even his inherited charisma, persuasion or wit could get him well-acquainted with big names in the industry. He could try using his name to get him friends in high places, but considering he ran away from his family, it wouldn’t be a surprise to Hunter that they disowned him. Why he left his family, he wasn’t quite sure, something very sinister, callous about the LionHearts. Hunter didn’t want to be like them, he loved his mother, and she loved him however they were never really close; most of her time she spent working. Diligence.

Due to their location being near the coast, Cassie began to adopt a hippy, animal-loving persona in which Hunter both loved and detested at the same time. The latter being the one which he denied most frequently. However in this circumstance, the former was sparked. Hunter was sitting in his office/bedroom when Cassie stormed in. She was wearing her long purple kimono that contrasted with her vibrant eyes. Hunter always wondered what she looked like without her tan, her natural skin tone. She wondered a lot more about him than he did about her though.

Maritimus park was located in Costa Del Sol, Andalusia. Through research into local business rivals, both of them already knew a lot about the park. Cassie held a newspaper (which she had to translate for Hunter, verbally because he still did not know enough Portuguese to interpret what it read) with Maritimus as the headline.

Hunter peeled back his lips to uncover his yellow-tinted teeth, as if he had forgotten how to smile. Truly, Hunter did not know how to react; what did Cassie want Hunter to do with the information she had granted him?

Artificial insemination programmes in marine parks were common, the quintessential being Maritimus Park. Inarguably, Maritimus park was the biggest Marine franchise in the world, with multiple constituencies scattered across the globe: Orlando, Jamaica, France, Spain amongst others. Each one had their specialties - for instance Maritimus park: Kingston was said to be the hotspot for sea lion displays, Maritimus park: Calais was where the best refreshments (menus filled with aquatic puns) were. Maritimus park: Andalusia was essentially the most valuable; it was where the advanced and prestigious scientists were based. Cece, Woody, King, Lupita, Fluffy, Lady and Betzy were the not-so lucky chosen ones to be the original cast of the now infamous global show. Maritimus was just one park at the time, but it was financially secure enough to buy 3 of them: Lady, Cece and King. Lady was purchased at age 4 at the time. 500 pounds. 8.5 feet long. Her smooth, silky, glossy skin projected a resplendent - although only limited to black and white of course - glow that could not show its maximum alacrity and power without damaging the naked eye. Her beauteous, swift, and clean ascends and sharp descends, like a South American bird, in the vivacious water could make a person ponder for days the physical limitations a beast of that calibre really had; Lady transcended all anatomical scrutinies if there were any to begin with. Her eggs held importance, usage not just for the Maritimus franchise but for any park; money was to be made with her. Cece was captured when she was just a baby; her mother died due to suffocation in the fishing nets. She weighed 200 pounds 4ft long. Taking her was a gamble (the babies were always the hardest to look after) but each business needs a face; cute, small, unadulterated face like Cece was perfect. The thrusting of her tail could barely cause a splash in the stagnant waters of the tank. Spectators would want her, children would wish to swim with her. King was an abnormal size for his age of 5, weighing 4,500 pounds and measuring11.5ft long. There was a slight discolouration on his belly and multiple scar tissues over his back, perhaps from the fishing nets. Some days he was rather intimidating, the true embodiment of an apex predator. It was as if he was born with an arched mouth so the severe teeth were always exposed. It could be seen as a saccharine smile or a sinister grin; depending on how they wanted to sell his show. Maritimus park chose the former or the latter depending on when it benefitted their image. He had had 30 cases of minor injury to the trainers throughout his lifetime. ‘King has a fiery personality, mostly harmless but we work hard to maintain the bubbly side of him, sometimes his other side slips out without our control.’ His jaw was a perpetual, ominous cave with infinite stalactites and stalagmites at the forefront to welcome you. As he engulfed his food it seemed as though trogloxenes were leaping through the cotton-candy pink yet simultaneously dark, continuous abyss of the tunnel that was his mouth. These orcas were the golden eggs for the Maritimus parks artificial insemination programme.

**No fatalities have ever been acknowledged or witnessed, let alone recorded of wild killer whales attacking humans. So, why is this happening? It’s not as if their ‘natural instincts’ are to blame like with tigers, lions, or bears. They have a consistent history of being as close to gentle giants as an apex predator can be. The only clear, ubiquitous, and logical reason is what everyone is denying. The common denominator is captivity. solitary lifestyles for humans are impactful in their mental stability, could this be the same for them?**

During the build-up of the C.Lion Heart Waters, Maritimus Parks: Andalusia was rumoured to be soon perhaps under investigation for the unravelment and exposure to the public of fifteen years worth of reports of dolphin stillbirths due to their artificial insemination programmes. Six dead baby dolphins in that month.

‘What does this mean?’ Hunter asked Cassie.

‘Talks of Maritimus Park: Andalusia having court cases, assuming this will cause a domino effect on the franchise; all the dolphins more or less originated from Andalusia.’ Cassie formulated an entreating expression on her face.

‘What’s gonna happen to the surviving babies has not been covered, but Hunter it’s implied something bad… I have an idea - if we are gonna do something good for animals this would be it; we can’t save all them but I want to make sure at least some get to live a better life.’

‘You’re planning to steal some dolphins,’ Hunter replied sceptively.

‘Worst case scenario the living babies will be destroyed.’ Cassie’s lips spread into a hopeful grin; a sympathetic Lady Macbeth, if you will.

Hunter felt a sense of excitement, worry, and sadness, but most of all ambition. He was committing a crime; but for the greater good. You have to be cruel to be kind, he thought.

But what would be different for them here to how it had been in the Great Barrier reef themed tank located in the South-East of Maritimus park: Andalusia? Hunter did not know yet but he would think of something, because he intended to do good for animals. If he did good for animals, he’d do good for himself. They were on a road to something big; he could feel it.

**Many people with little zoological knowledge believe in and evidently reinforce common misconceptions surrounding the animal kingdom. Many think Whale sharks are both shark and whale; many cannot differentiate between alligators and crocodiles; disinterested eyes are easily swayed by the dark pigment and so are unaware of the fact that black panthers are jaguars with the same spotted prints. Another being the unknowing of the close genetic relation between orcas and dolphins. A simplified correction to that is that Orcas are essentially large dolphins; they share the same small eyes, relatively prominent stout, superficially kind smile.**

Hunter and Cassie drove through the open borders segregating Portugal and Spain since 1128. They rented a van and filled three containers with waters that could fit three baby dolphins. That was the maximum, three baby dolphins to go. The origin of the new captive dolphin family tree would start at C.LionHeart waters, made over the remnants of an old fruit farm.

They had no plan; they just knew that they would be driving back with three baby bottle-nose dolphins. Malaga was full with resplendent billboards advertising the wide-range of tourist attractions; theme parks, landscapes, zoos and now, of course, the not-so-prestigious Maritimus park. Hunter has been to Spain multiple times in his youth, summer holidays being the primary reason. Never to Maritimus park. Anxiety shivered through Hunter's mind. This idea was ludicrous, futile, criminal; but looking at it through a strategic business perspective, which was ingrained within him and so he was more inclined to do, this was a story, a just tale of two (anonymous) animal-enthusiasts doing what is right. Obviously, the story couldn’t be broadcasted automatically; no, it had to take time, prosperity, and trust from his loyal customers, who he would entertain. Hunter assumed Cassie was looking at this out-lawing endeavour as a time to truly save these defenceless souls. Do animals have souls?

They drove through Malaga to the coast. Ironic that most of these marine parks were not a far distance from the vast open water that is the sea. Where captive and wild marine animals differed completely. A child calling for his mother on the other side of the wall. Very ironic.

It took a total of 5 hours to get there. They bought tickets online, fairly easy because of the large numbers of people boycotting the constituency, the captive animal industry as a whole. That would change though, Hunter knew what to do.

They arrived at 4:00pm. Two hours before the park was said to be shut. They closed half an hour early on Mondays. The car park was mostly vacant, the odd car or two. A few 100 protestors, PETA mostly. Hunter and Cassie kept their heads low and walked to the entrance. Hunter took a short glimpse at one of the protesting signs which read in bright neon pink ‘just like us.’ Just like us. In the world's contemporary state, it was as if that statement was an unintentional offense. The exterior was industrially sublime; overwhelming, as if they were walking into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Don’t let the big polystyrene statues deceive you; this is a factory.

Everything seemed so blunt; you could see in the distance a vast and deep body of water, attempting, and rather successfully, to replicate a South American lagoon deep under the canopies. 81 hectares. Thousands of sea creatures from across the globe had here as their habitat. Their home.

They casually strolled to the ticket booth disregarding the protestors like A-list celebrities hiding from the paparazzi. A young woman, eyes of hazel brown, long dark, slightly purple-tinted hair. Chocolate-box smiles much like Cassie's, only less genuine. This woman had probably had to practice that smile in the duration of her training days, but it came naturally to Cassie.

‘Hola! Bienvenidos Maritimus park Andalusia, ¿Cómo puedo ayudarles?’ Her smile now seemed more genuine, hopeful, maybe like a cry for help. ‘ _Please don’t close us’_ was expressed in her eyes. Cassie communicated to her in a way which exceeded Hunter's knowledge and interest of the latin languages. He gazed around; this place dominated the tourist industry for decades, at least in the western hemisphere; it’s progress in the zoological industry however had always been incessantly questioned, Hunter thought. His extreme hypocritical nature obtained direct correlation with his contradictory, whether this was obtained by his LionHeart ancestors, he wasn’t quite sure. 

They were in. Unprecedented nostalgia was sparked in Hunter's mind, throughout his childhood animals played a major part; but for what? To make money off of? Hunter hoped not, he believed he was just utilising the tools he already had. He was given lemons, rather nutritious ones for that matter, to make pure, righteous lemonade. An uneasiness was sensed around Cassie, a combination of both fear and melancholic observance. Was this unshaken and dogmatic devotion for animals his doing? If it was, at least one good thing came out of meeting Hunter. Hunter threw his arms around her torso to pull her closer. A singular blonde curl which came loose from her tied up hair brushed against Hunter's sunburnt face like a feather. Hunter suspected it was the wrong time to pop the question, but he knew that soon it would inevitably escape his mouth like carbon dioxide in the exchange for oxygen, and a simple ‘yes’ in Cassie's sweet and emollient voice.

The dolphin zone began with the slightly unorthodox presence of the gift shop; much like a tunnel, you walked through the gift shop then the mini aquarium room (full of mediocre guppies and African Cichlids). This passage was used as a gradual warm-up before the real show. The same cyclical, monotonous voice echoed through: ‘ _you are now entering the dolphin zone_ , _Dolphins have a lifespan of 20 years..’_ It was as if these incantational announcements put the visitors under a trance. A clever and common strategy by marine parks to speak about, in the customer's point of view, trivial aspects of marine animal anatomy that seem like background noise but prominent enough to show people they know what they’re doing.

The luminous aquatic-like light projected from the tanks formulated a surprisingly tranquil atmosphere (on the surface at least, many secrets were hidden under these places) for a business on the verge of closure. The two novice dolphin smugglers could only imagine the anticipation eating away at the kids as they travelled through the 'dolphin zone'. They now entered the last room before the climatic auditorium that belonged to the main event. The tanks formed an arch over the observers; you looked up and a nurse shark swam over you; unaware of the dazzled eyes gazing at her belly beneath her. Maybe she did know but didn’t care. Shoals of nomad clownfish swam around the 200,000 gallons of water which filled this tank. The octopus’ two coarse tentacles pressed against the translucent glass near the bottom left side of the tank; maybe she was forced to express this welcoming gesture, like the women at the ticket booth. Her eyes evoked a sense of the maternal figure for this dysfunctional ecosystem. Sea urchins scattered across the artificial seabed causing minor but notable inconveniences to the cautious crabs’ pathways. The observers are seldom to see all the animals in this tank; the continuous momentum of the dolphin zone tunnel shouldn’t be halted by fascinated individuals. The double door which the two novice dolphin smugglers assumed was their final destination opened up forcibly to the open-air dolphin auditorium.

**Artificial insemination programmes prove effective in conservation aims so in the marine park industry it wasn’t a surprise that they adapted these strategies, but for a different goal. Maritimus park needed a high number of dolphins to complete the puzzle in which the killer whales’ pieces were too big to fit in. Both whales and dolphins are forced to breed at a young age. The most detrimental factor to the captive marine mammal family tree is that most of the breeding is inbred. The limited genetic diversity Maritimus park attains lead them to breeding genetically close animals together. This caused the unrestrained and, to the public, inexplicable stillbirths.**

The doors opened up to a short number of steps until you got to the top, the best view for the show. The ordered rows of blue-greenish seats looked dirty, probable chewing gum under the majority of the vacant seats. The grip of Hunter's hand was tightened by Cassie, not by fear now but by indignation. She turned to Hunter and maintained eye contact for a singular second then shifted her gaze to the leaflets protruding from a cardboard stand. The stand had ‘Donde estas?’ and then ‘where are you?’ written in a smaller text underneath (not surprising due to the large quantity of British visitors in the summer). They were leaflets of maps with labels. How can a heist occur without a map? Cassie thought. They were only amateurs in their defence. She nudged Hunters hand and tilted her head towards the stand. He then nodded and walked up to it, grabbed one and followed Cassie ascending the stairs. They were at the top looking down and the oval shaped pool which inhabited the dolphins and the trainers for the duration of the show. They both sat at the closest seats and embedded their heads deeply within the map so the wrinkles on their foreheads were touching.

‘The dolphin’s main tank is just behind, exit doors on the far end both sides of the podium leading into the pool, assuming those doors will lead to the dolphin’s main tank and therefore the staff only doors, this must be where the tranquilised babies are kept’. Cassie thought aloud, her eyes fixating on diagrams, arrows, and labels. Cassie’s head bolted up suddenly when the announcer stated that the show started in 3 minutes, Cassie looked around again and then turned to Hunter.

‘I’ll go round back to the main pool, you stay here okay?’

‘You sure you don’t wanna miss the show Cass? Heard it’s riveting’

‘I don’t have time for your silliness Hunter LionHeart I’m in the zone, the Dolphin zone for that matter’ Cassie laughed a confident laugh. Then took a deep breath. ‘We’re really doing this okay’

‘I know, I know’ Hunter replied with his eyes brought back to the map. ‘Just be careful’

‘I know, I know’

She stood up quickly, wiped the dirt under her skirt which clung to her from the seat. She walked down the steps leading to the oval shaped pool and headed to the right exit. Hunter just sat there, watching her, his mind finally comprehending what they were about to do.

**The time span that a dolphin can stay out of water varies depending on the circumstance. The factors that alter the duration are the temperature, and if they are kept wet. In theory, dolphins can survive several hours out of water but only ten minutes or so in water without being able to breathe at the surface.**

Cassie walked out the exit on the right only to reach a narrow pathway that is supposedly meant to lead you to multiple attractions. It seemed like a miniature street. One of the directed attractions was the ‘feeding zone’. This title was very misleading, amongst other factors in this establishment, for the customer only got to view the trainers feeding the animals. She hadn’t much of a clue where to begin once she got past the staff doors, and that was if she even achieved that level successfully. The clamp of her red flip flops caused a sound on the concrete floor, not too loud but noticeable. She took them off and slipped them in each pocket of her kimono, neither of them fit, so the ends protruded from the pocket slits. She reached the main dolphin tank that had been taken over by the feeding cone.

A glass barricade separated the people from the animals and trainers. A blue mosaic brick wall terminated the length of the small square space of platform behind the pool. Irradiant patterns and concoctions of caricature-ish dolphins, fish, octopi, and many others spread across the wall. It was a simplified version of the Great Barrier Reef; but no coral was present in the dolphin’s actual tank. Leaning against the wall were buckets, inflatable balls, wetsuits, benches. The platforms in which the trainers stood seemed damp and in need of a good scrub.

A large quantity of the people in the park today was watching the trainers cradle and feed a baby otter, beluga whale, turtle, and dolphins. The prominent animal was the dolphin, they seemed to be positioned second on the marine park hierarchy, under their cousins, orcas. There were no signs to the staff-only doors that Cassie could see. Cassie’s indignation was now clouded over by fear again. She walked through the crowd of around 5 and tried to see some sort’ve restricted area. A young little girl at the front with the most dominant view cried ‘I want one mummy!’. So do I, Cassie thought.

She hovered around the display nearing the end of the feeding time. One of the trainers, Skyla embroidered in her blue polo shirt, holding the tiny ivory-coloured beluga whale in a pink towel removed her dangling legs from the dolphin infested pool and stood up heading towards a narrow-camouflaged plastic flap door in the mosaic wall on the opposite end of the pool where Cassie and the crowd stood outside of the glass barricade.

As the trainers carried the baby animals in their towels so that they only showed their cute faces, they scurried back through the plastic flap door, their entrance being delayed by the bottlenecking, the crowd’s attention turned to the adult dolphins in the pool. These were the third of the second best; too old to be seen as cute or cuddly; not performative enough to be stars in the runners up for best picture in the maritimus park awards.

‘I’m sorry but they don’t do much’ The little girl’s mother remarked, seating her little girl back into her buggy and strolled along to the Turtle aquarium.

A melancholy filled up the dolphin tank. There were five dolphins in total each had their own habitually designated area in the tank. None of them moved, each floated there, the water remained stagnant. There was the occasional sound but nothing meaningful Cassie though. The dolphins all individually had prominent scar tissue and wrinkles on either sides of their necks. Dolphins shouldn’t need to bend their heads for those wrinkles to be caused. It was a horrid sight to see.

The dolphin show was rather mediocre, due to the undergoing circumstances, and Hunter felt a sense of boredom. Almost forgetting he was currently involved in a dolphin heist; he watched the show like he was taking notes from a lecture. His chin rested on his tightened fist as he hunched over his lap. Something felt so weird about this place, he hated it here, everything just so artificial. His place was going to be different, he just needed to change it, somehow, make it better than this dreary operation. He was going to captivate people, exceed this pathetic excuse of entertainment. Yes, he was a genius, Hunter LionHeart was going to create an aquatic world not a fucking park.

The time was 5:00pm and one hour before closure. Street Lamps on the miniature-street concrete path began to light up. Cassie began to grow impatient. A small, old man in a boiler suit carrying a mop and bucket approached her. His hat covered his eyes so only his grey moustache was exposed, he looked like an anthropomorphic sea lion in some peculiar way.

‘They’re starting to get tired, aren’t they? We’re closing up soon anyway.’ Stated the old man, it seemed that he worked for the park long enough to tell whether customers were native to Spain or not.

‘They haven’t been doing anything all day,’ Cassie replied. Her cheek leaned on her right hand with the elbow resting on the glass barrier separating her from these animals.

‘Ah, yeah you’re right, they never do,’ His Spanish accent was heavy, but Cassie could understand him. His moustache curled upwards like whiskers. ‘In their prime they were incredible, fountaining up to about 6 metres, then diving down again’.

‘They must get bored, just sitting here not doing anything,’ A tiny sigh escaped Cassie's mouth.

‘Everything gets bored,’ The old man dropped his bucket on the concrete floor and wiped him hands on his boiling suit. Cassie turned around and came to the realisation that it was only two of them in the crowd.

‘Where do they keep the babies? Y’know the still-births that happened this month, there are a few that survived, is that correct?’

‘The two babies they had out now I think came from back there’. He pointed to the plastic flap doors. ‘that’s where they’ve been keeping all the baby dolphins, y’know how things are now.’ The old man took his hat off to give a quick examine of the area and pointed to the plastic flap doors. Cassie could see his eyes now. ‘They won’t be taking them out again though senorita. La tiempo es a las Cinco y ocho.’ He then pointed to the large dolphin-shaped clock.

Cassie smiled acknowledging his help. She was going to do something dangerous; she knew it. Her head darted upward and scanned all the lights, signs, walls for CCTV. She couldn’t see any obvious ones but even if she did it wouldn’t have stopped her. She called Hunter first, he answered instantaneously.

‘Meet me at the main dolphin tank in around 10 minutes okay?’ An unrecognisable undertone filled her voice.

‘you alright, Cass?’

‘Yes, just meet me in ten minutes,’ She hung up the phone and darted it on the floor. It made the old man quiver slightly.

Cassie reversed backwards from the glass barrier to the green hedges (one of the very few actual greeneries here) on the other side of the concrete path. A small branch bulged out from the hedge just above her so the one of the dangling leaves caressed her right temple. Her elbows and knees flexed so her back arched. The old man stared at her with utter perplexment. He didn’t say anything though, finally some excitement in his life. The old man thought she was a bull, him the matador, except he strangely wanted her to win.

Cassie took one large breath, darted up her side to check for pedestrians, case was clear. Her resentful smile peered down to the concrete and puffed all the air out. She could feel her diaphragm contracting. The top of her head faced the glass barricade as she charged towards the pool. In the last 2m her head shot up like a sprinter would do and altered the angle of her legs so they were completely bent. She launched herself up in the air with her hands and ponytail swaying above her. Her tiptoes rested on the top of the glass barricade as she leaned head-first into the water. The old man watched in astonishment and curiosity. It looked like a combination of long jump and platform diving; her technique seemed elite to the unprofessional eye.

As Cassie descended, the melancholy which filled the water evolved into a soluble sense of adrenaline. However, the dolphins remained static as she swam vivaciously through their territory. It wasn’t really their home. She reached the platform where the trainers dangled their legs in and lifted her body above the water. She had no time to look back at the old man. Her gaze shifted for multiple seconds until they halted at the sight of a black wetsuit resting on a wooden bench.

Cassie’s flip flops dropped to the floor with her kimono as she slipped the wetsuit on. It was already very damp and irritant on her skin. She had no time to react though, this had to be done swiftly. She looked baked at the old man, standing static, and pressed her index finger over her bright red lips as if it was bisecting her mouth, indicating to keep quiet. She threw her kimono under the bench and disappeared through the camouflaged plastic flap door. The old man thought that he may inform someone, but he had an inkling that it may not be a good idea purely for the animal’s sake, for the jeopardization to his job on the other hand, well he was indifferent. He continued to walk away with his mop and bucket.

Cassie felt light-headed. The rapid shift from land to water can do that to a person. Behind the plastic flap door was a long hallway, the walls, doors, sheet tile flooring was all ivory white that it caused harm to one’s vision. It reminded her of the time she was taken to hospital as a child when her mother took her when she had an allergic reaction after eating excessive chocolate profiteroles which contained traces of nuts. Usually, walking down hospitals or hospital look-alikes would spark uneasiness in Cassie however her fresh new adrenaline blinded all her other emotions. She walked along, a rather long way which seemed to reduce her adrenaline quantity. It seemed more like a hospital to Cassie. The arms of her wetsuit dangled down- she didn’t have time to put the whole wetsuit on- and rubbed against her thighs causing a rather annoying sound. A man opened up a door on the right and looked directly at Cassie. She froze in mid-stride for around three seconds then proceeded her momentum towards him.

‘Oh hi there, do you know where the babies are? Baby dolphins I mean of course.’ Her smile and eyes co-worked together as a deflector kind of. The man stared into her eyes. There was silence for a moment and Cassie thought maybe he couldn’t understand her.

‘Just down there, you need your key though, are you new? I would’ve remembered you,’ The man had an Australian accent; he wore what looked like a lab coat with a clipboard under his left arm. Quite intimidating really. Maritimus park scouted biologists across the globe of course, offered them a lot more than conservation charities ever could.

‘Ahh yeah! Well temporary I’m guessing under present circumstances. You see, ermm I left my staff key with ermmm Skyla! Yeah, that’s right! I’m shadowing her at the moment. I think I left my flip flops and kimono in there; do you mind opening it up for me please?’ Cassie subtly batted her eyelashes while being subconsciously coy. She then realised what she was doing and felt a slight humiliation, she had never thought she would have to result to that in any scenario of her life.

It somehow worked nonetheless, he pointed his index finger to the opposite side Cassie was facing and walked past her, slightly nudging her shoulder. She turned round without hesitation and followed him; she didn’t care for this lab-coat man. She came to the realisation she liked nothing about this hall and couldn’t wait to do a performative exit with baby dolphins under her arms like a high school student on their last day.

They reached the closed door with the sign reading ‘dolphin Calves’ written in pen on a paper super-imposing the actual sign which Cassie assumed said ‘staff only beyond this point.’ The lab-coat man inserted his key on the door handle and opened it for her. Before Cassie could turn around and say thank you to the lab-coat man he was already making his way through the doorway.

‘Oh, sorry but do you mind just letting me get changed first, I would go to the changing rooms but they’re ever so far away and I won’t be too long.’ Cassie even less subtly batted her eyelashes again, not just short-lasting humiliation but memorable shame now raised within her.

‘Okay, don’t be too long though and be quiet, the babies are sleeping, who knows how many sleeps they’ll have left.’ The man closed the door gently and stood outside. **What an odd thing to say?**

Cassie began to slowly panic, she just realised she had no phone to call Hunter with. How on Earth will she be able to carry all three baby dolphins without extra arms? She just had to do it, somehow. She slipped out of her wetsuit, with a fair amount of difficulty. Her skirt was soaked completely but she didn’t have time to concern herself with that. She eventually looked up and gave herself a good few seconds to look around the room.

An array of translucent water-filled containers were distributed around. In the centre surrounding the containers was some sort of medical instrument trolley, tweezers, injection, jars of medication. Most of the jars that were labelled ‘Benzodiazepines’, ‘Para king I’, ‘Para King II’ and ‘Para King III’ were written underneath. She didn’t know who the three Kings were thus, she thought nothing more of it. There were shelves above Cassie's height which looked like they contained similar substances. This place didn’t feel like a marine park, or I should say an ignorant-minded perception of a marine park. It was like an industrialised apothecary shop with the sole purpose of controlling animals. Cassie ran to the nearest container and leaned her head over it. Most of her curls went loose in her dive through the dolphin tank so they dangled down in the water as she peered over five baby dolphins. They seemed to be floating static like the dolphins from the other tank however one of their eyes were closed. Dolphins sleep with one hemisphere of its brain animate. Cassie remembered from the monotonous voice projecting through the tunnel. However, there was something strange about how they were sleeping, she then looked up and spotted more jabs and tranquilisers for, Cassie assumed they were under sedatives. The five dolphins seemed visually identical; however she knew through the dolphin eye they must each have blunt characteristics which mothers can easily differentiate their kin from the others. Cassie knew she had little time and so picked up the dolphins individually that was among the limited boundary of her reach due to her small arm span. Each one just about fit it the inside of her wetsuit. Two were able to fit in the space for her right leg and one through her arm. Their nose pointed out of the holes; it was undeniably adorable. She blew a kiss to the two other dolphins left in the container and a small tear deriving from her left eye splashed in the water. Each weighed on average 20 lbs and the addition of having to carry the wetsuit in which they were bundled in made it slightly harder, but it was do-able, with her determination and relatively athletic upper-body. She pushed back their noses from the holes so the lab-coat man on the other side of the door didn’t suspect she was smuggling dolphins out of his place of work.

She knocked the door while the other was precariously holding the concealed dolphins. The door opened to the lab-coat man with a concerned expression on his.

‘Thank you, Mr man! See you around okay?’ She blatantly batted her eyelash this time and even added an extra little wink on the end. **What the fuck is wrong with me?** She could see the slight blush in his face as he turned around with his thumb up. She turned her head after she made sure he was walking the other direction so she could scurry down the hallway. She knew he wouldn’t realise she left the room without a kimono or flip flops. She reached the plastic flap door again and saw Hunter standing behind the glass barrier. She had no hands to wave at him so communicated through raising and lowering head, indicating to him he needed to jump over and swim.

Hunter rolled his eyes and opened his lips to talk before Cassie shook her head. She exaggeratingly mouthed to him ‘no talking and swim slowly’ in an imperative and rather aggressive manner to get the point across. He mouthed back to her ‘alright! Cass jeez!’ as he grimaced. She giggled a little. She didn’t quite know what he said but guessed the incentive. He pointed at the dolphins around the pool. Cassie mouthed ‘don’t worry, you’ll be fine.’

Hunter slowly lifted his legs over the glass. And swam deep underwater. His natural disorientation was blocked by his focus, it won’t be too long okay. He heard Cassie’s voice in his head. He reached the platform and elevated his right leg up first, however that didn’t work very well and he fell back in the water causing a rather salient splash. Cassie’s eyes widened. Hunter emerged from the water again and used his arms first to lift his body weight up. The lab-coat man appeared from the plastic flap doors again with the same concerned face again. Cassie used her right foot to nudge Hunter back into the water and moved her body slightly to hide him.

‘You okay?’ the lab-coat man said.

‘Yeah, sorry Mr man, I just dropped my flip flops in the pool.’ Cassie giggled.

‘My name’s Winston.’ He then closed his eyes repeatedly as if he was attempting Cassie’s previous eyelash batting. She now felt second-hand shame. There was an awkward silence.

‘That’s nice.’ Cassie replied, trying to fill the quiet moment.

He realised Cassie was finished with conversation and she wasn’t going to tell him her name. He turned away quickly with disappointment. Hunter emerged from the water, much more slowly this time, and tried his third attempt of getting out of the water. He crawled out this time with the hope it would be less loud.

‘Thanks for that.’

‘you’re welcome honey.’ She handed the bundle of baby dolphins to Hunter as she scurried under the bench against the mosaic-brick wall to find her kimono and red flip flops.

‘I’ll put Jimothy in here.’ Whispered Cassie.

‘You’ve already named one Cass?’ Hunter asked.

‘Of course, of course.’

Hunter's eyes widened as he saw the baby dolphin slipping out of the wetsuit into Cassie's bright purple kimono.

‘ahh they’re so freaking cute Cass!’ Whispered Hunter, trying to maintain his excitement. He paused for a second ‘How the hell are we gonna get out? We can’t swim again Cass.’

‘We’ll just have to go down that hall again, it must lead somewhere.’ Cassie stroked the dolphin wrapped in her purple dolphin.

‘This ones my favourite, Hunter.’ She rubbed her nose against the dolphins attentively like a child with a new-born baby. She looked up at Hunter with a serious face again while slipping her red flip flops on. She wanted to make a noise now.

‘we’re gonna make a complete run for it now, leave this horrid place forever okay?’ Hunter couldn’t tell if she was talking to him or the baby dolphins.

‘3…2…1.’

They blasted through the plastic flap door one last time and charged through the hallway. One of Cassie’s red flip flops fell off just in front of Hunter but, unlike Cassie, his arm spam was long enough to scoop it up while still holding the bundle of dolphins in the other arm. Nearer the end they reached an open door leading down steps.

‘Be careful Hunter once you reach the end!’ Cassie exclaimed this while also vaguely spotting an outline of a person with a lab-coat opening up one door as they raced by, not knowing whether it was a lab-coat man and not really caring; She screamed ‘Bye Mr man!’

The person along with a few other voices screamed the usual ‘Hey!’ one does when they see two random people charging through a corridor in their place of work. They both kept their heads low so as to both shield the dolphins in case they bump into anyone, but to also conceal their faces in case of CCTV which of course would be there if they decided to look.

‘Sorry we’re just passing bye! Forgot to close our car door! Great show today lads, real enthusiasm!’ He ran too swiftly for the people in the hallway to catch the waft of his facetious cadence.

Hunter and Cassie cautiously trotted down the stone steps outside the hallway that lead to a similar pathway Cassie was previously in. Cassie looked at the signs directing visitors to certain areas. ‘Salida’ was written in small letters on an arrow pointing East to where they stood. Almost as if they don’t want you to leave. They turned down East and jogged until they reached the exit where instead of ‘bienvenidos!’ it had ‘Hasta pronto!’. They did it, no lab-coat man in sight. So easy, so easy that anyone can really see how this place operates without having to dive too far in.

They both decided to walk to the van due to the absence of anyone chasing them. Hunter opened up the vans doors while popping his two dolphins in their individual containers. Cassie dropped hers in after giving it a gentle kiss on the forehead. Cassie drove again because the only licensed driver in Europe and they thought they weren’t committing any more crimes today. This was untrue however for she wasn’t licensed to drive a van. It didn’t matter though. Hunter stayed at the back with the dolphins, both hands and his bare foot on each of the container's handles so they didn't sway.

‘They gave ‘em shit to make them sleep? Cass,’ Hunter shouted to Cassie at the front.

‘I think so, they’re okay Hunter I think, don’t worry okay.’ She was primarily focused on driving at an adequate velocity home without exceeding the unknown speed limit or causing discomfort to them at the back. 

They drove through the Spanish to the Portuguese motorway for 4 hours, stops for petrol and refreshments included, until a tiny whistling ‘eeee’ sound derived from one of the containers in the back of the van. A grin grew on Hunter's face as his head popped up as if a switch had been turned in his head. Cassie looked behind then to see Hunter's giddy expression. Another sound occurred but its origin came from a different container.

‘that sound is called a burst pulse.’ Hunter told Cassie as her eyes turned back to the road.

He crawled forward in a peculiar motion with only one foot to drive him forward closer to Cassie so the tip of his nose was touching one of her curls.

‘That sound... is called a burst-pulse. Each dolphin has their own individual sound and they use them to communicate to others. Locate food…. address other individuals… express current emotions.’ Cassie recognised that Hunter was reciting and mimicking the monotonous voice projecting through the ‘Dolphin Zone’ tunnel.

‘Dolphins are part of the Delphinidae family, Delphinus genus and the Cetacea infraorder. Dolphins are highly social animals and create bonds with members of their pods.’

‘Okay?!’ Cassie laughed and mirrored his enthusiasm.

‘Hang on in there lads, we’ll be home soon!’ Hunter shouted as he stared at two of the three stirring dolphins.

The same epiphanic euphoria that Hunter had on their night in the ocean reappeared and seemed to spread to the conscious people of the van. Cassie blasted the Latin radio on and rolled down the window as she cocked her head out the window. Her blonde curls swayed ever so slightly for it was too humid to give the full effect of a rebellious, socially woke, woman escaping the law and driving down the motorway under the Iberian sky. Wind was substituted with searing sand flowing through her hair but conveniently passing by her eyes. This moment was paradise. This last year had been paradise. Her hand banged on the exterior of the vans door in a slightly off beat tempo to the radio because it was impossible to hear over Hunters incessant screeches-now in his normal voice-of dolphin trivia. Hunter and Cassie were both swaying their heads in unison to not just the music, but their glee. They drove along forward through the radiant mist of sunset with aspirations flooding through their heads without the need to translate them verbally to one another. Their journey really only began in that literal loud yet also silent drive home. All five of them were going home.


	2. The Speculators Captivate The Spectators

‘Do you believe that animals being kept in captivity will cause more good than harm to species?’ Katina Walters asked Cassie LionHeart with a smirk Cassie did not care for.  
‘I think we have to accept the fact that there is a large amount of family trees in the captive animal kingdom so places like ours still have to run; we are fortunate enough to provide our guests with hands-on experiences and without captivity, we couldn’t possibly have those experiences.’ This was finished with her iconic batting of her eyelashes, pretty smile, and quick glance at Hunter's direction position behind the cameras. Thumbs up from him.  
‘We understand that C.LionHeart waters is an animal sanctuary however it does hold close resemblance to the former Maritimus park franchise which is now obviously closing.’  
‘Why would you say that?’ Cassie inquired, worriedly.  
‘Well the reason being is that you are essentially a business, Do you not think you provide entertainment for people?’  
Cassie took one quick and deep breath, the sweat from her forehead now causing distortion in her newly done makeup. ‘The difference between us and Maritimus parks is our effort and devotion to these animals. We truly love them so they learn from the people that visit just as much as we learn from them. We swim together and have fun doing so.’ This was finished with her iconic eyelash batting of her eyelashes, pretty smile, and quick glance at Hunter’s position behind the cameras. Thumbs up from him.  
‘I’m sure Casand-‘  
‘Cassie, Cassie is just fine.’  
‘Sorry, Cassie. I’m sure Maritimus during the build-up probably did have a devotion to animals, saw themselves as saviours to or heroes for the few without a voice, this led to some callous behaviour among the humans and evidently, the recent closure of their facilities.’ Katina repeated her smirk, the same way Cassie repeated her iconic batting of the eyelashes and pretty smile through this televised interview for Good morning Britain. ITV flew out to C.LionHeart waters for just this interview; due to popular demand.  
‘I’m sure they did, but Maritimus park was a circus, a blunt exploitation however they still attempted to conceal this with their scientists and such. We are a place where animals can experience humans and humans can experience animals, people pay to step into their territory and learn about them hands-on. This is a place where animals and humans can co-exist.’ This was finished with her iconic eyelash batting, pretty smile and quick glance at Hunters position behind the cameras. Thumbs up from him. It was almost as if his thumbs were up the whole time and not just him reassuring her.  
‘So the grand opening of King III to the public will happen on August 24th, is that correct?’  
‘Yes ma’am, Just over a month’s time. The ‘Blue hour’ is August 24th 6:00-7:00pm.’ This was emphasised with a small nod.  
‘And actually, King I, King II and King III were both born in Maritimus park?’  
‘Yes, the King dynasty were a big part of the franchise's image for the past 43 years, however the exploitation of their marine animal’s are finally being unravelled, King III is coming to a much better environment for him.’ As opposed to her iconic batting of her eyelashes and pretty smile, she emphasised her point again with an affirmative nod.  
‘I’ll take your word for it.’ Her face and tone was very serious as well now.  
‘I must say one thing Cassie, your dolphin experiences are fantastic, the trainers are amazing with how they work with your animals. But I must say dolphins are not the same as orcas, orcas are a lot bigger and one of the biggest controversial aspects of Maritimus park was the close proximity the trainers had with the Orcas. This of course led to only minor injuries but still injuries to the humans. Cases of orcas having poor sight, crashing into trainers. Will you be going to swim and work with King the same way you would with the dolphins?’  
Cassie tried to conceal the even larger breath she now took before speaking. ‘We are very experienced in the physically strenuous activities we do. Our trainers know the water, I know the water so all I can assure you is that it will be a lot of fun for us, and the spectators.’  
‘For King III as well?’  
‘Yes, of course For King as well.’

Katina then turned her head back to the camera while adjusting her position on the creamy blue sofa in C.LionHeart waters’ head office. ‘The introduction of the latest resident at C.LionHeart Waters will be introduced in the ‘Blue hour’ Augusts 24th so make sure to buy your tickets beforehand to watch the grand welcoming! Ladies and gentleman, thank you for watching and have a good day!’  
She turned back to Cassie. ‘Thank you Cassie and I must say you do very well on the camera! You’ve had any previous media training?’  
‘Only at university I suppose.’  
‘Ah! Well you do good, make sure to look into it, could boost the image of this place even more so!’ Katina Walters sounded quite genuine now.  
‘we would like a brief tour of the place; you know for shots and what not.’ Katina Walters now directed her eyes to Hunter standing behind the cameras.  
Before Hunter could open his mouth, Cassie intervened, ‘Yes, I can show you around okay?’ This was finished with her iconic batting of her eyelashes, her pretty smile, and a rather long glance at Hunter. Thumbs up and the mouthing of you did great! From him.  
After the heist of the three dolphins now called, Jimothy, Gerald and Coco, the only way to go for C.LionHeart waters was exponentially up. During the 7 years after the heist, More people came in, more animals came, more ideas came in and therefore more money.  
C.LionHeart waters was the arguable microcosm of the seven continents. They aimed to create an atmosphere of natural bliss, a place that seemed distant from the hectic schedule of industrial life. An array of trees filled the park. Ones that grew mangoes, apples, oranges. Some grew above the tanks and peered down towards the animals and the spectators of the animals in ‘their natural habitat’. Many visitors were exempt from paying to enter the park. For example, the occasional Iberian hare, would often hop through the entrance without anyone noticing, say hello to their captive peers, grab a bite to eat off the customer’s plates or picnics, and wander on. Numerous accounts of song birds would often linger just below the canopies, sometimes might pick at the skin of the saccharine citrus fruits dangling down from the tree’s. The most rare of the very special guests were the deer. How they got in no one knew, but they did and they made quite the entrance along the pathways (formed through gaps between the trees) by the loud gallop of their ruminant hooves. They were welcomed with courteous caution, staff carefully leading them out so they can roam in the wild again.

  
**The park felt like a perfect blend of the arboreal and aquatic elements of the world; with a wide spectrum of climes to facilitate all their species. It was once described as an ostentatious garden for marine fauna to roam. This was of course inaccurate because each animal had a limited space. The park itself was shaped like a slightly irregular pentagon. The park did blend in all together, however it was essentially organised into three different attraction’s called the Archipelago’s.**   
**The entrance from the car park (It wasn’t much of a car park, just a few open fields around the facility) led you through a rather long and strenuous and inclining trail between the towering trees. Of course, a grandiose introduction like this ostensibly disassociates C.LionHeart waters to their arguable predecessors; former marine parks. It made you feel as though you were exploring acres and acres of forest land.**   
**At the end of the trails it opened up to four sets of ticket booths, all bright blue so you won’t miss them. At the front of each ticket booth stood a stand holding a variety of leaflets; guides for places to eat; lists of animals, maps and gift shops. Although this information was always aided to the visitor it wasn’t seldom that many people got lost in the park, the scattering of tree’s made it difficult to pinpoint your location exactly. The place became a lot more open once you passed the ticket booths. You would be directly in front of a, now emaciated, substantial tree glaring towards you as if to ask ‘may I take your coat’. You would then smile and walk along. You would then instinctively walk anticlockwise in a smooth motion through the different archipelagos. Once you’ve seen enough, you can leave. The exit is to the right of the ticket booths and will lead you down an almost identical but now declining woodland trail back to the car parks.**   
**The first archipelago you will visit is the tropical archipelago. This one was the biggest and inhabited by most of the animals. You will see the introduction of areca palm trees, synchronising with the fading of the distributed cork oak trees. The Fruit smoothie stands, as well as the trees, helped you identify the type of atmosphere you were walking into. Members of staff may greet you with an offering of variegated Hawaiian flower necklaces. Some of you will accept some may courteously deny. A feel-good happy zone where the sea turtles splashed and the dolphins dived. The alacrity of the mango, apple, banana, lemon, pineapple fragrance effervesced throughout the archipelago. You would feel an obligation to start dancing along the pathways, jump carelessly in the tank and swim with the closest dolphin you could see. You would’ve thought of them as a close friend guiding you through the natural hierarchy that was the tank, telling you who they like and who they dislike. You could do all of that here, that’s what it’s for. You would also feel that you were genuinely in a sea which surrounded multiple little tropical islands. The tropical archipelago held two tanks, the Elasmobranchii island, home to Ohana the nurse shark amongst others, and the dolphin island. Jimothy, Gerald and Coco caused the expansion of the dolphin population to be 10. You will swim with them, watch their intelligence, agility, everything a human would want to see in a dolphin it was there. But you will decide you need to move on; you have more people to meet.**   
**After passing the last areca palm you will see the gradual increase in cork oak trees again and realise you’re now on the other side of the planet; transported to a small arboreal commune. There are benches, bins, ice cream vans. This is the best area to eat, where most families will go to have their picnics, lunches, snacks, fruit smoothies. This will aid you with sufficient energy to continue your adventure.**   
**Directions and the collective groups of visitors will then again move west from this arboreal commune to reach a more open clearing. The clearing will be short lived as a sign will read ‘Polar Archipelago’. A blue dome with a small arched entrance- which gave the effect of an igloo- will meet you at the end of the clearing. It will start to get slightly chilly but you will be warned by the staff at the beginning of the entrance. The dark, eerie sense of the entrance is to intentionally resonate with the dark, eerie sense of the arctic ocean. However, once in a while you will see beauty. You will be spoilt for choice, seals to the left of you behind their glass barrier, and Adelie penguins to the right of you behind their glass barrier. Luckily enough these seals weren’t leopard seals. The frantic they would trigger from the penguins would be rather unpleasant for the visitor. There will be a familiar monotonous voice projecting through, you won’t know where you know it from, but you don’t care, to you it was background noise. A subconscious earworm winding through your mind not by your own will. You have no interest in becoming Arctic specialists. A oval shaped glass window will be in the centre of the rear side of the dome. It won’t show anything, but the sign will read ‘King III under water viewing area'. The noise of screeching whistles will get louder and louder as you move down to the rear end; it will be directly proportional to your enthusiasm. The exit will lead you to stairs. You’re about to view something so spectacular, something that will trump the sea turtles, dolphins, octopi, seals, penguins. You might see, no, meet the apex predator that conquers the whole of the Arctic sea. Trotting up the ascending stairs, your hands may start to shake, your lips may tremble ever so slightly every time you hear the clangourous splash of perhaps dorsal fins. You won’t stop though because you know something exciting is happening. Except, when you get to the top there will be no apex predator in sight, a vast, empty pool, with empty seats gazing in. A staff member may explain to you this disappointing occurrence 'He's not here yet'; you will release a harmless sigh, but you will carry on because you have much to see. After what you would imagine would be a thrilling exertion; you will continue down a spiralling staircase leading you out the underwhelming Polar Archipelago.**   
**In this next Archipelago, I would advise you to imagine yourself, witnessing the giant apex predator in the pool. The never ending smile. Although pink, the sinister cave in which inhabited his teeth, but slaughtered his food. This sight will be adrenaline-inducing, causing uneasiness in the crowd. The dark, eerie sense of the Arctic ocean.**   
**You weren’t in the Arctic ocean, so how would you know what it’s like?**   
**The hecticness will gradually recede. Tranquillity will rise as you stroll through the pathways. The rivulet archipelago. This archipelago is more or less a forest trail in between two otter enclosures. The Rugrat family and the Partridge family. Two animal families that are perfect for cross breeding and growing the C.LionHeart waters captive otter population. You will be smothered with cuteness by watching these furry creatures scavenge for their food planted by the trainers staring down their aquatic and land enclosure.**   
**After a long day of swimming, eating, buying stuffed animals for your children, you will be left with exertion but contentment. Slowly moving through the congested motorway you will see multiple billboards with a pretty lady with bright blue eyes and a chocolate-box smile; reminding you and persuading you to come back to C.LionHeart waters. Besides, you haven’t seen the big show yet.**

  
Cassie laid her exerted head on Hunter’s lap in their office. It was the highest point in the parks office building; right in the centre giving them accessibility to view any part of the park they want to. Well, if there were lights; the trees concealed some of the tanks. Her hair was a lot shorter now, straightened to give a more sleek and sharp look. Cassie missed her curls, but business was business. Her legs stretched out and cushioned comfortably on the creamy blue sofa. Hunter sat bolted upright, as if he were about to stand up and thrust Cassie’s head across the rectangular office.  
‘You okay, Hunter?’ Cassie inquired, Her head lifting up to seize Hunter’s expression.  
‘Yeah I'm fine, just thinking about things,’ Hunter replied, abruptly.  
Cassie jerked up to position herself to the right of Hunter.  
‘About what?’ she clasped her right hand onto his. Concern echoed in her voice.  
‘I just feel that this is gonna be a big thing for us Cass, a lot of pressure is on us to do this good, the speculators captivate the spectators.’ Hunter’s face remained distant from the conversation, but his voice was completely clear.  
‘The speculators captivate the spectators?’ Cassie raised an eyebrow.  
‘This is big news, for over 9 years people have been protesting, boycotting, investigating Maritimus park, I can even imagine people probably did that when they opened, animal right freaks. Now it’s closed they will find another place for them to criticise, and we’re basically the new kids on the block, King can either bring us more money or more problems’. Hunter leaned in forward, his back now hunched like a villain in a children’s film. ‘We need something big, but something that can satisfy all.’ His hands mimicked an explosion to exemplify the effect he wants this something to cause.

‘There’s only so much you can make in a pool Hunter.’  
‘No, Cass we need King to do something that’s never been done before, the speculators captivate the spectators’ Hunters driven and focused aura appeared instantly after he said his thoughts aloud. Hunter shot up now, charging back and forth while passing the wedding pictures of the both of them on his wooden desk with his thumb and index finger pressing against his chin.  
‘The people love us. But our words alone cannot do justice the magic we can provide. It’s not a wow-factor either. We need something big. They wanna co-exist with our animals. The speculators captivate the spectators. Make them feel that this is not just an animal park but a place that captures the true essence of the wild.’  
‘You wanna do a show Hunter?’ Cassie was now bolted upright. The conversations in the office of a night were common occurrences, Hunter thinking, Cassie tired but still thinking.  
Her role in the park was far more physically strenuous than Hunters. Her job was basically head trainer, however her literal title was ‘head animal guider’. This was a name they came up with to formulate a dissociation from the marine park industry. But her jobs were primarily the same as trainers; teaching swimming and feeding the animals. People never took the 'animal guider' name. They were zookeepers with the absence of knowledge. Hunter made it ubiquitously clear that this wasn’t a zoo; it was a place to learn about these animals in a practical way rather than a theoretical or visual one. Despite the names, their show’s weren’t really shows, no structured stunts or acts. They were experiences where the crowd interacted with the stars to create an idiosyncratic performance every time. Ride on the dolphins, cuddle the otters. Unforgettable experiences.  
‘Cass y’know we need to right? Have you seen the profiles of the orca family tree, the numbers are incredible, Lady, King and Cece were the money makers, and we have their DNA in our hands.’ Hunter stood directly under the fluorescent lamps. Cassie could see the dark circles dimming his bright green eyes. He doesn't sleep much anymore, she acknowledged.  
‘Hunter we can’t just do exactly what we publicly oppose, not only is it morally wrong but I’m not even sure it’s safe anymore. King III isn’t a dolphin or a sea lion that we can play with. He’s an animal much bigger. Training him is going to take time. Come down and swim with me’ Most of these late office nights led to them swimming in the vacant pool in the Arctic Archipelago. The swim’s seemed to be mostly solitary for Cassie as the years went on.  
‘I’ll pass tonight Cass. One of us needs to see the bigger picture.’ Hunter backed away from the light belligerently so Cassie could only just about see two green dots in the dark.  
‘What’s that meant to mean?’  
`We're not like them, they started this, we have a place where they can relax, if that means they need to do a bit of jumping and diving with us so be it. They might even enjoy it. We’re teaching people how to co-exist with these animals, Maritimus just entertained. We’re better than them. We’re doing this for a cause.’ Hunters was staring over his park absently, hands pressed against the window. His voice presence was notably different. Another side to him that creeps out once in a while, appearing much more in his Navy Armani suit.  
‘I’m going for a swim okay? You should come, it’ll be nice for you to finally relax.’ The concern in her voice now grew, she felt too distant from him to kiss him on the cheek like she usually did, so she left.

  
Hunter stood looking out the window for a while, he didn’t know how long exactly, but long enough to make him realise he should go down to swim with Cassie. Walking through the trees in the dark was something he had become accustomed to ever since those long rebellious nights of trespassing these same forests, only now it was theirs.  
The splashes got louder and louder as Hunter approached the pool. Hunter’s sudden appearance from the trees frightened Cassie as she fountained up from the water. A slight screech escaped her mouth. Hunter giggled and knelt by the side of the pool.  
‘We could get people to pay just to see you swim Cass.’ He cupped his hands with water and chucked it over in her direction.  
‘The way you appear from places Hunter I swear to god, you’re like a bat.’ Cassie chuckled and descended back underwater and accelerated herself quickly to the side of the pool where Hunter was sitting.  
‘Is this where you try to pull me in? In my Navy Armani suit!? You have some nerve Cass.’ Hunter playfully raised an eyebrow.  
‘Just swim with me okay? I know you’re scared of the water but I'll be with you and we got some floats in the back for you honey.’ She kicked her legs up coyly causing a large splash on Hunter’s Navy Armani suit.  
‘The absolute nerve Cass.’ He dived straight in head first and engulfed her in his arms. She squeezed his left hand as they went deeper together. Hunter’s eyes, although sore, were open and he could view not much but enough to counteract with his disorientation of deep water. He was with her anyway. He remembered a moment from their night in the ocean: **‘you create something like that for me okay?’** They created this park together, they made money of course, if Hunter wanted money he could have money. They’re making something they’re proud of, together. They stayed static in a warm yet cold embrace. The glass barrier reflected their embrace to give both of them an image of what the spectators would see in their aquatic performance of marriage love. Cassie squeezed Hunters hand to prepare him for his escort upwards to get air.

  
Their wedding was in the summer of 2010, five years before they met and three years prior to the future introduction to King III. The ceremony was on Jardim beach. Caroline and Hunter’s relationship wasn’t the best ever since he ran away, however due to his success and Cassie’s pretty face, she came and celebrated with her son and his choice of life partner. Cassie’s Orlandoan parents, Carlos and Vanessa Morgan, couldn’t be happier with Cassie’s career and spouse decisions. You must remember they looked at it through a parental perspective, they saw the money, the glamour, the smiles on their newly wed faces.  
Cassie through a towel over Hunters shivering shoulders. ‘I want a new Armani suit for my birthday. This time khaki green to match my eyes.’  
‘I’ll keep that in mind okay.’ She took him by the hand and they walked together through the momentarily dark and silent land world they created together.

  
**A technique used by Maritimus park was food deprivation as punishment for the orcas. They will perform a stunt, if the stunt doesn’t exceed the Maritmus’ expectations, no food for them. King I, King II, King III was raised with this tradition. It was all they knew. They needed to compete for their food. Sometimes they might crack, see an arm, tempted to just try it, one bite. No one will ever know. And that’s right, no one did really know.**

  
Every morning they wake up at 6:30 am. Hunter slides into one of his Armani suits, matte black today, and Cassie in her half on wetsuit and blue polo shirt. They had a large villa in the space of land that isn’t open to the public in C.LionHeart waters. The villa had a very latin look to it which Cassie loved. Tin-glazed ceramic tiles with an array of potted plants in every room. Hunter liked the place but wasn’t much interested in the architectural side of his home as he was with his park. He spent more time in his office anyway.  
‘What are you doing today Hunter?’ Cassie sat by the kitchen table eating a banana and a mango she picked from the trees.  
‘Staying in my office with Tilli, you’re in charge of the ground stuff today.’ Hunter was sweeping up his multiple binders, paperwork and notepad in his left arm.  
‘You’re not eating breakfast Hunter?’  
‘I haven’t got time, I’ll just get some chocolate from a vending machine, Love you cass.’ He kissed her on the cheek and exited the door in one smooth yet precarious motion. It was a cyclical routine now, she will kiss him goodbye in the night and he will kiss her goodbye in the morning. Hunter was the last one to leave, first one to arrive.  
Cassie didn't have much time herself to ponder chronologically over the perpetual nature of her days. She herself was an important part in this business and so headed to work with a walkie talkie in one hand and her keys in the other.  
Cassie’s daily journey to the park was a walking through a small nature trail until she met a big blue gate. During the earlier years she would trot along in awe of the beautiful wildlife around her, but now a 30 year old business woman, she had little time to appreciate her surroundings. In fact, she hated this part the most, walking alone. The big blue gate was to mark the ending of Hunter and hers private home; and the entrance way to the arboreal commune that most visitors would stay for lunch or just a nice cool down. Cassie’s early mornings were spent gathering up information from the directors of each Archipelago.  
‘Samara Donovan, receiving.’ Cassie pointed her walkie talkie up to her mouth.  
‘Copy.’ Samara was the director of the tropical Archipelago. She was British and had previous experience working in London Zoo as a keeper. You could say she had the most knowledge of animals than most of Cassie’s employees. Cassie became quite close with her over the years and would consider her her closest friend, despite Samara being 7 years older than her.  
‘Can I have your 10-20?’  
‘I’m at the Elasmobranchii, Some trainers have noted to me that Ohana seem’s off, we may have to call the veterinarian, over.’  
‘I see, we'll limit the amount of visitors at the Elasmobranchii island today, if she still seems bad, we’ll call okay, over.’  
‘Wilco, and may I ask, please tell Hunter to shut up about his apparent new Khaki green Armani suit he’s gonna get like he doesn’t have enough already, over.’  
Cassie pressed her mouth closer to the walkie talkie so Samara could hear her giggling.  
‘Wilco, bye Sammie, over and out.’

  
**‘Swimming with our animals is completely safe. In fact, it is the fundamental aspect that differentiates us and them. Our marine animals aren’t utilised solely to entertain the spectators, the spectators use them to learn about the natural world through their own pace, not by a hardcover book, not by information boards in front of an enclosure, but by living with them only if it is for an hour, you’re co-existing.’**

  
Cassie strolled along to the rivulet Archipelago and came across Adam Sohl, senior Rivulet trainer, chucking fish from a wooden crate into a bucket. He was born and raised in Portugal, however his English was very good. ‘Morning Adam!’ Cassie screeched from the other end of the Partridge otter enclosure. He smiled a stern smile but didn’t say anything, he was too focused on his morning job of feeding the Partridge family. He was a very focused and dedicated man. The rivulet Archipelago was the place that Cassie went for some light-hearted laughter; when the twins Rusty and Eddie Partridge had altercations over food, see them swim along with their silly little paws. Visitors were starting to come in now and Cassie could see the families excited faces pressing against the glass windows, waiting to just jump in and teach the Rugrats and the Partridges tricks and clap with amazement when they performed.  
It seemed to be a slightly quieter morning than usual, Cassie felt like lying down on the nearest greenery and falling asleep before she would start her actual work. So she did. Tiny little space under a cork oak tree. This was a slight detour in her daily routine but the occasional change never hurt anyone. Half an hour, or an hour later, Cassie had no way of knowing, she was awoken by Amaya Rogers on the walkie talkie. Amaya was in administration and worked mostly with checking staff in and out, she sometimes got on Cassie’s nerves, constantly bugging her. Now was one of those moments.  
‘Casandra receiving.’  
‘10-4, and you can call me Cassie you know.’  
‘Sorry, there’s two divers here from, sorry where you from?’ There was a short pause and Cassie rolled her eyes. ‘Jardim commercial diving, over.’  
‘10-4, they’re meant to be cleaning the tank, send someone free from Arctic to greet them okay? Over and out.’ Cassie knew there was probably more to the conversation but she didn’t care. She had a long day of swimming ahead of her and she needed a rest. The sun's rays beared down against her face causing her to scrunch up her nose, eyes and mouth like she was sucking on a sour apple sweet. She needed to get inside before she would melt underneath the sweltering sun that followed her wherever she walked.

  
She ate lunch with Samara in the head office breakroom. It was very stuffy and couldn’t be bearable without a large bottle of water by your side. They chatted for a while about the park, guilty pleasure telenovelas (they both claimed that they just happened to see them on TV when nothing else is on), then back to the park. The park was where their friendship blossomed to be fair.  
‘So what is the plan for the so-called ‘Blue Hour’, Cass’ Samara was stuffing half a cheese sandwich in her mouth. ‘You know Blue hour actually only lasts 20-30 minutes so you’re wrong haha.’  
‘Thanks for that input Sammie, and to be honest I'm a little nervous.’ Cassie leaned in and shone her anxious eyes on Samara. ‘Just showing a whale isn’t gonna get people off their seats. But we have to acknowledge the fact that we don’t know him or any whales in fact.’ Cassie wrapped her fingers on Samara’s wrist. Now her eyes seemed scared. ‘Hunter wants a show. He wants me to be in the water with King. I don’t think I can do it Sam. I’m not good enough. I’ve been struggling to hold my breath underwater recently. I can’t equalise my ears as easily as I used to. This is a hard job Sam.’  
‘You’re the best trainer here Cass, whatever happens you’re gonna do great ‘cause people love you. King’s a big boy, but you can face any challenge y’know that right.’ She wiped a small tear off Cassie’s pink cheeks.  
‘Come on, let’s walk around and silently judge people's poor choice of swimwear.’

  
Cassie nodded and took Sam’s arm as they walked out the stuffy office breakroom, forgetting their big bottle of water.  
Hunter's public statements about the park and, more specifically the up and coming ‘Blue hour’ were always tinted with slight contradictions and equivocal statements. But his mannerism was so likeable you could easily agree with what he is saying. He could imagine the teachers from school seeing through this, but they weren’t really the target audience, old white men. LionHearts could deceive people, it’s part of business. The LionHeart’s could’ve made good politicians.  
He knew people didn’t like the close proximity between the trainers and whales at Maritimus park. The performances they do together, the whales thrusting them up in the air. Hunter had to find a way to stray from that. No, a way to alter that, brainstorm a clever reason why they are letting whales and people in close proximity. Co-existence. He was lucky he had Tilli to brainstorm with.  
Tilli was Hunter's cousin, his real name was Matthias but Tilli was a nickname that just stuck. He was a relatively successful young man himself, head of the marketing operation at a law firm, specialising in of course business, based back in London. Hunter often invited him to Portugal to stay for a few weeks to help him with certain projects. Tilli would never decline an invitation for promised free booze and the occasional drugs in clubs scattered around Southern Portugal and Spain. Hunter never took part in the consumption of illegal substances to Cassie’s, or his own knowledge. Not knowing much about the captive animal industry, Tilli's standpoint was similar to Hunters: make money from this. Hunter would never admit it, but he wasn't really aware of it. They spent the afternoon contemplating what they should do.  
‘King is a performer, just make him do one last dance.’ Tilli held a cigarette in one hand and ran his hands through his long blonde hair.  
‘People won’t be happy with that Tilli, it’s different with the dolphins, the sea lions and the beluga whales here because the spectators aren’t just spectators they’re also speculators as well. They don’t see the whistle blowing, the rewards if the animals dive correctly, the punishments if they don’t. This is because they are blinded by captivation, the ability to swim with these animals, play with them, feed them, counteract with the scrutinization they give the marine parks. We’ve opposed Maritimus park since we’ve started to convince people we are the good guys. We’ve highlighted the key difference in our show to try and distinguish our aim. We are here for people to become one with animals. That is the aim we tell the public. We don’t need a performance, we just need to tell people it’s safe for them to swim with each other. Man and whale.’ Hunter gazed wistfully out the window to his park. Hi cheek pressed against the glass.

  
‘Jesus Hunter you’ve gone all philosophical now, so what do you wanna do?’ Tilli stood up, slightly aggravated by Hunter's incoherence.  
Hunter turned around, a euphoria was sparked once again in him, a different euphoria now. You could say it was an avaricious euphoria but it was too difficult to tell even Hunter didn’t know. Hunter wasn’t really present in the conversation, like he fell asleep during his small almost shakespearean soliloquy. This was Hunter LionHeart, in his matte black Armani business suit staring over his park.

  
**Whenever you visit a zoo, animal park or even animal sanctuary, I advise, nay, encourage, you to do research. For example, an elephant ‘sanctuary’, but people ride on their backs. This is a clear exploitation of the elephants so evidently the facility added ‘sanctuary’ in their name solely to deceive the customers eye. However, a zoo with a clear conservation aim and the presence of wildlife biologists or scientists is a place that I would advise to give your money to. The last example would be and possibly the most important , the ability to distinguish between a non-profit organisation and business. It can’t be too hard, because it overlaps with the previous examples; an elephant ‘sanctuary’ where the elephants are used as a type of transportation; dolphin ‘sanctuaries’ where they are expected to do stunts or performance, these are businesses. Circuses could be a better description but nonetheless they are businesses.**

  
Cassie spent her afternoon on Dolphin island. Working with Whistler, Jimothy and Coco’s baby. Whistler was 3 years, as cloudy grey, but a cloudy grey that made you excited to go running around under the sky in the hope of being drenched by the soothing rain. She had a few physical malformations, noise a little distorted and a few underlying health issues. Nothing too serious, well that was what Cassie was told. Cassie loved whistler, her occurrence was enigmatic even to Cassie, she was unaware of any breeding between Jimothy and Coco, however she was a busy woman so wasn’t omni-present in the contemporary news of all changes in the park. But, she was the overseer and so was informed by Hunter himself about the birth. Hunter thought whistler was a worthy contender for the dolphin islands main star, the most popular choice of swimming buddy by the kids or parents. He made sure that she was taught the basic tricks by Samara, Cassie or someone from the team; walking on top of her fluke, leaping diving. Just to keep the customers impressed when they’re swimming with her. A visitor would be given a whistle, which you could keep as a souvenir, and practice the ‘harmless’ (Hunter’s words) little performances with the likes of whistler or the other dolphins. People won’t realise the hypocrisy or their criticism against Maritimus park because they are actually doing it, and they enjoy it. Besides, they’re within trees, fruits, water, coral, how much more natural can this get?

  
**Living in a limited area and being indoctrinated to believe you should perform under such harsh conditions, it is safe to say no living things sanity would be stable. Antipsychotics was always in stock during King I, II and by the end King III. It was never discussed between Maritimus park directors the genuine jeopardization of the trainers safety. The trainers safety was never put first, hundreds of hidden reports regarding previous cases of serious injury and detriment to the trainers. Never was informed to the new trainers working with the King’s, especially not Cassie. He was her problem now.**

  
King III’s arrival to the pool was meant to be the 14th of August, giving them enough time to get things settled before a pervasive crowd of people and family cameras would be shoved in his face before he went to sleep. At around 6:30 pm Cassie helped clear up dolphin island after a long evening of lifting little kids up so they could stroke each dolphin and if they didn’t, they would throw a tantrum in front of their parents. She walked up the long rectangular based staircase to Hunters office. She was worried about him, and has been for a while. She went up to the office in the hope of persuading him to swim with her in the ocean, like on their first date. She knocked on the door anticipatingly.  
‘It’s me, Hunter.’  
‘Come in.’ Cassie recognised that the voice wasn’t Hunters. It was Matthias, or ‘Tilli’. She hated Matthias, a snobby arrogant prick in her eyes. Who the fuck does he think he is, telling me to come into MY office? She thought that Matthias was more or less a hyperbolic representation of Hunter's most unlikeable attributes. There weren’t many that he showed to other people, but Cassie could identify them, a few times now and then they will crawl out to her, attack her, metaphorically of course. Hunter was faced by the window, but she could see his big green eyes through the reflection. Tilli stood in his desk chair, one hand on the mouse of the computer, the other holding a cigarette, his likewise blue eyes fixed on Cassie and with an obnoxious smile manipulating his face. His gelled quiff looked ridiculous, everything about him was ridiculous.  
‘We’re just having some discussion here doll, don’t worry he’ll be all yours soon.’ This sentence was slightly misshapen due to the breaks for puffs of smoke contrived by his mouth.  
‘Don’t talk to her like that Tilli and put out your cigarette you can’t smoke here.’  
Hunter’s face lit up as he gazed excitingly into Cassie’s eyes.  
‘You wanna go for a walk, Cass?’  
‘Yes, along the beach?’  
‘Perfect!’  
Hunter took her by the arm and trotted down the stairs, it was a miracle they didn’t go down tumbling. They heard a shout from the open office door ‘You want me to close up? Hunter.’ Cassie answered with a belligerent ‘Yes’ while skipping out the door leading to the outside. You see, Tilli was a noisy man, he liked to know about other people's business especially his relatives. Harmless peek through the drawers, cabinets, emails. Make sure everything was in place. However, he noticed something lacking, something that every man’s office needs.  
Nostalgia creeped over them, running through the nooks and crannies of Jardim around 7 years ago. Cassie missed those days dearly. Again in blue hour, they walked along the seafront. ‘Blue hour only lasts 20-minutes apparently’ Cassie told Hunter. She wasn’t sure if Hunter was listening or he particularly cared. Thus, he began to present his plan.  
‘Cassie, you’re the best trainer at the park, you’ll be the one looking after King when he comes, I know this is gonna sound big but, we’re big.’ An internal shiver ran through Cassie’s limbs as Hunter proceeded ‘He’s gonna be a well behaved guy, he spent his whole life in showbiz, it’s literally in his blood, people are gonna wanna see him in the water with someone, before they get in themselves.’  
‘So we are doing a show.’ Cassie let go of his hand but Hunter locked his arm tightly with hers.  
‘You’re gonna show thousands of people the capability of this animal, the fear inside them will dissipate while they watch you glide through the water hand in fin. If they don’t see that they won’t wanna swim and if they don’t swim then they won’t come.’  
‘Hunter we have 600,000 million visitors a year, numbers like that don’t just drop.’  
‘Yeah but we can have so much more, I promise you.’ Hunter pulled Cassie closer towards him so she can see this evershifting tone in his eyes.  
‘We have to look at the safety aspects of this okay?’  
‘Safety aspects, safety aspects? You are the most talented swimmer I have ever seen, you were born to do this, I’ll be right by the pool, even put on a swim suit for you, you know how much that means.’ Hunter kissed Cassie’s forehead then lips.  
‘You know I can’t miss that!’ She chuckled a pathetic chuckle then rested her head on Hunter’s shoulder.  
‘It’ll be okay, you’ll feel better when you meet him, this will be a great experience for you, a real challenge for your aquatic capabilities.’ A small pause was terminated with Hunter’s persuasive icing on the cake.  
‘You’re teaching people how to co-exist with these animals.’  
Cassie nodded but couldn’t talk because she was choking on her tears. **This was what the walk to the beach was, for him to mansplain to her the schemes occurring in her business?**

  
King III was transported to C.LionHeart waters by a double deck truck. They were informed by the driver that there was recurring swaying and a sense of distraught coming from King, but nearer the end he was ok. It was Cassie’s first time seeing him.  
He had notable scar tissue under his mouth like his grandfather. pintsized eyes that looked like two raisins. The eyes although black, dispersed feelings, sentience, a soul. His jet black skin was blended fluidly and corresponded with the ivory white parts, there were no straight lines in nature. His orcinus mouth resembled uncannily to his grandfathers, a sinister cave that could easily be perceived as a cotton-candy trail. His blue tongue expanded until a sharp drop like a precipice on the coast of Cornwall. The dorsal fin was a skyscraper transcending out above the clouded sky, intriguing one to climb. Lady’s physical characteristics were subtly ingrained in King III, not as prevalent as King I’s genes. Cece, King III’s mother, cherubic qualities combined with Lady, King III’s grandmother, counteracted with the King dynasty. Their volatile expressions kept many people at unease, no one was left bored however. So it creates a rhetorical question of the incentives in King III’s sentient eyes.

  
Cassie was called down by Amaya Rodgers on the walkie talkie. The majority of employees gaping at the sight of King III being slowly plotted down into the tank. A few squeaks or whistles, Hunter couldn't tell, from King was always finished with a loud input from Amaya ‘I think he’s excited’ while clapping her hands. She was at administrations, probably, like Hunter himself, not an expert in the zoological side to things.  
‘You gonna get in the pool with him yet Cassie?’ Amaya glanced at Cassie who was leaning against a custodial trolley as multiple people were mopping the sides of the pool.  
‘I will do soon, we’re just gonna settle him in.’ She smiled at Amaya, it wasn’t a genuine smile, more of a sardonic smile, but that was completely lost on Amaya. She continued with her clapping and optimistic comments until the crowd of employees died down and the mopping was finished.

  
At the end of the day Cassie was lying stretched out on the cream sofa while Hunter and Tilli spent their time chit chatting about various different topics. Almost everywhere Hunter was, Tilli wasn’t much further behind.  
‘Hunter I think i’m gonna go home okay? I’m kinda tired.’ She said this while still laying static.  
‘Oh alright, I’ll see you tomorrow yeah?’ Hunter cocked his head to the left so he could see Cassie more clearer, Tilli’s broad shoulders were restricting most of his view.  
‘Bye Hunter, love you.’ Still, not moving.  
‘Bye cass.’ Hunter let his eyes stray back to his computer, checking his emails and such.  
‘Bye Cass.’ Tilli had his head fully roasted so he could show Cassie the delineation of his aggravating, rage-inducing smirk to hopefully hurry her along.

  
He turned back to Hunter after the excruciating minute of Cassie opening the door and leaving.  
‘What you looking at Hunter?’  
‘I seemed to have remembered getting an email from the Maritimus park dispatchers, well before closure.’ His face remained observant of the big square screen. A few clicks and perpetual taps of the keyboard later, the anticipating silence broke.  
‘Aha, here it is.’ Hunter's face still remained observant now, even more so he was reading. This of course catalysed an even greater anticipating silence.  
‘Well, what does it say?’ Tilli was sliding a toothpick through his whitened teeth, like he was jabbing a dagger through the slits of a cage.

  
**Dear Mr LionHeart,**   
**We hope you and your facility are doing well. Here is the attachment of our full report of King III.**   
**Kind regards,**   
**Maritimus park dispatchers**   
**Name: King III**   
**Age: 14 years**   
**Sex: Male**   
**Weight: 5,243 kilograms**   
**Length: 26 feet long**   
**Medication: Tagament, Anti-psychotics, Benzodiazepines**   
**Additional information: Like most captive orcas, King III has some tendencies that need to be restrained by employees so that both the orca and the trainers can work in a safer environment. These drugs can be consumed when necessary, I’d advise you to make that judgement prior to a trainer working in close proximity to King 111.**

  
This vague but adequate information seemed impressive to Hunter, a strategy to keep things moving without the need of further questions. He has used this technique many times.  
‘What they are saying is that we need to make sure he doesnt go fucking savage.’ Hunter performed a deep and exasperated sigh while flinging his arms in the air.  
‘It’ll be okay Hunter, I wouldn’t worry.’ Tilli raised from his seat, reached over to the blinds of the window and closed them insidiously. Hunter spinned the wheels of his chair around to trace Tillis' movements.  
Tilli stood peeking through the slits in the blinds for a few seconds then directed his eyes back to Hunter.  
‘Maybe you were too young for this, but one as a kid I was in his office, snooping around like kids do, and I came across this in one of the desk drawers.’  
Tilli slid his under his sports jacket and slowly brought out a black contraption that was too concealed for Hunter to tell what it was just yet. He pulled out a revolver. Hunter raised his eyebrows, not scared, never scared but perplexed.  
‘You see, you should already know that the LionHearts are very powerful people so you shouldn’t question how i got this through airport security, this isn’t the gun Grandad Frank had, but it’s similar.’ Tilli approached Hunter and slid the gun along the wooden table, resonating a gut-wrenching sound as friction was contrived between the two objects.  
‘Granddad seemed angry at first when I found it, but then he started to laugh and told me to sit in his chair as he circled his desk’s multiple times while telling me a story. The gun in my hand’. Tilli started to circle Hunter's desk, implying that he was about to tell the exact story that Frank LionHeart told him. And he did:  
‘As you know, Golden rings was a prosperous business and a major threat to fellow eating establishments, a lot of loyal customers. However, Frank didn’t start it up by himself, he had a partner, a close friend Connor Cosgrove, your middle name right?’  
Hunter nodded but his lips did not move.  
‘Frank’s humiliation when our grandmother seemed more successful than him was unbearable, which one is the breadwinner? People asked. Connor was a friend from school. Granddad knew Connor was a good cook, so they teamed up, Frank took care of the financial side of things whereas Connor took care of the culinary aspects. They were a great team, People naturally were infected by the LionHeart charisma, and enjoyed the consumption of the traditional English cuisine.  
But the power dynamic eventually shifted naturally; LionHearts will always remain on top. Connor was more like a subordinate to Frank. Connor obviously didn’t adore this but he was still earning a fair amount of money.  
In the earlier years, there were frequent complaints regarding food hygiene, laziness at Golden Rings. People didn't like Connor, they would rather not have him making their food. These weren’t complaints enough to cause fatal detriment for the future of Golden Rings, but Frank cut things short before they went spiralling out of control. Connor was a drunk, well that’s what Frank said, so he fired him. Kicked him out the business. Yes, he had shares in the place to his knowledge, but it was later discovered that Golden Rings was all under Frank LionHearts name.  
That’s the trouble, never let a LionHeart handle finance. Connor Cosgrove was a skilled cook but naïve and gullible, not match for Frank. Connor’s life went downhill from there, no job, wife left him, only friend was his drink. One miserable rainy London night, Connor came marching in, waving a culinary knife, drenched to his socks. He was a small portly man so not particularly menacing, besides, Frank had a little trick up his sleeve. The trick was of course a gun.’  
Tilli picked up the revolver on the desk among the clutter of paperwork and cigarette butts in one smooth and dexterous motion. He aimed it just above Hunters brow. Hunter sat, frozen, mouth agape.  
‘Grandad never really stated whether he actually shot him, but Connor was never seen again. And, naturally, LionHearts will always remain on top.’  
‘Bam!’ Tilli exclaimed.  
Hunter quivered and retreated under his desk. Tilli busted a loud ‘hah!’  
‘C’mon Hunter get up I’m not gonna shoot you.’ He placed the gun back on the desk.  
Hunter slowly ascended and relaxed back into his chair. Wiped the sweat off his forehead.  
Tilli leaned forward on the desk and placed his index finger in the muzzle of the horizontally laid revolver.  
‘Whatever Frank did, he did what he had to protect the business, King III is your Connor. Show him who’s boss by any means necessary, he is a fish, you’re a lion. Put him in his place when necessary and if he does not comply, use external force.’ Tilli laughed a little to break the silence, he knew Hunter wasn’t going to speak or change his facial expression until he left.

  
As he opened the door, he turned back to Hunter, an unlit cigarette loosely protruding from his mouth ‘Welcome back to the family Hunter.’ He winked. Hunter could only see his shadow getting smaller and smaller in the dim fluorescent lights while descending down the stairs.

He slipped the gun in the drawer under his desk, closed it firmly shut, and went scavenging around his office looking for the desk drawer keys.


	3. LionHearts remain on top

Cassie spent the night stretched under her purple kimono and a blanket (the Arctic Archipelago is obviously not the warmest place in the park), beside the glass window separating her from King. Her head leaning on the glass, her legs relaxing over the oval shaped gap in the wall where the window was; the underwater viewing area. Her wistful aesthetic looked like something out of a romance novel, the part where they have to be separated after maybe a small conflict or a third party comes into the mix. This was basically accurate, she felt very distant from Hunter, especially when Tilli was around. Cassie could see the vague outline of King’s physique, moving through the chlorine-infested water. Normally, Cassie would find talking to animals ridiculous and crazy, but now she felt exasperatingly desperate, the need to just speak allowed, even King had no way of interpreting what she was said.

‘I know how you feel King, I know you may not know that I know how you feel, but just know that I do. When I was a kid all I wanted to do was travel, explore the world, write about it. But I’m stuck here, in a place that is a poor excuse for what's out there, no matter how hard we try, this will never be what’s out there, beyond the ticket booths, vending machines, benches, car parks. One day me and you will leave, I promise. You should see the sea.’ Cassie kissed the tip of her fingers and pressed it against the glass causing a slight smudge while desiccate droplets of tears dripped down on her wrist.

‘How do you know he wants to leave?’ A delineating shadow stood around 30 metres across the sombre hall of the dome where Cassie sat. It was far away however Cassie could hear the rhetorical cadence under the question as it echoed through the dark deserted dome. She knew it was Tilli, and so she cringed.

‘Why are you still here Matthias? Hunter is probably just working or counting his money, he won’t give you any, LionHearts tend not to give.’ Cassie said, Morosely. Not ever diverting her eyes from the black dot swimming through the bathtub at a distance. 

Matthias’ outline became clearer and clearer as he slowly approached the oval shaped glass window. ‘I figures, it was worth a shot though at least, I mean he is the only Lionheart most likely to give because he’s the youngest, easy to manipulate,’ Tilli stared through the glass the same way he peeked through the blind’s in Hunters office. ‘Hunter is smarter though, he isn’t someone you can fool.’

Cassie shrugged, she liked to think she was maintaining eye contact with King, but he was too far away to tell.

Tilli acknowledged her focused gaze and proceeded to talk, he was doing a lot of talking today ‘Do you know Plato’s cave?’ 

Cassie did know, and also knew that even if she nodded he was going to tell her anyway. So she continued to stare at the black dot in the bathtub.

Tilli grinned, ‘There are three prisoners in a cave. They can’t move their heads, legs, arms because they are all tied up to rocks. They can't see anything but a wall that’s in front of them. They don’t know what life is like outside the cave, they’ve been there since birth. There is a fire behind them and an opening where people outside the cave walk along and carry things on their heads. The prisoners can see these shadows on the wall. One of them escapes. See’s the world, see’s everything he was taught was a lie. See’s real life cats, dogs, plants. He can’t handle it, so he goes back to the cave because that’s all he knows. 

King doesn’t know anything else, you can’t just let him go, he’ll be happy here, doing the things he knows. You however, I can’t say the same for. If you feel trapped in a cave you entered by your own will, it’ll be hard to find anyone that’ll help you.’ Tilli smiled at Cassie, not a smirk now, not a grin, but a smile. A smile that evoked pity.

Cassie was sure that the Plato’s cave allegory didn’t go like that at all. It was a lot more stratified than that. but she didn’t correct him. Instead she said ‘I think you should spend less money on teeth whitening and more on your breath Matthias, I can smell it from here okay.’ 

Matthias laughed, slightly embarrassed. He tapped his fingertips on his two front teeth. ‘I’ll see you soon Cassie, hey remember, animal rights people ask you about King; Plato’s Cave, that’ll convince them.’

He turned away and transformed back into a shadow, creeping down the hall to exit the Arctic Archipelago dome. Cassie rolled her eyes, but then smiled, remembering it was just her again. Well, her and the black dot in the bath tub.

Tilli walked out of C.LionHeart waters, along the forest trail leading you to the motorway opposite Jardim beach. 

Perhaps he had forgotten the LionHeart fundamental principle: diligence; if he had remembered, he wouldn’t have abused his name to sneak an Arminius HW 357 revolver into Faro airport. Perhaps he didn’t forget, he just disregarded the regimen his grandfather made and applied for the LionHearts to thrive in the business world. 

He knew nothing about animals, fish, water, but he knew business. He thought Maritimus park was too lazy at covering up things, amateurs, not slick like Hunter or himself. ‘LionHearts remain on top.’ He muttered under his breath while exiting the Arctic archipelago.

‘LionHearts remain on top.’ He muttered this walking through the Rivulet Archipelago, looking forward so it was unclear whether he was talking to the Rugrats on one side or the Partridges on the opposite. 

‘Lionhearts remain on top.’ He muttered this for the last time while walking through the declining forest trail exit,

Forgetting to touch wood all three times he made this comment. 

Cassie spent the night in the Arctic Archipelago dome, how she was able to spend the night there without freezing was beyond her knowledge. She woke up feeling slightly refreshed, more at ease than she was the night before. ‘You had a good first night here King?’ Cassie spoke aloud in her croaky morning voice. Her croaky morning voice was the most endearing of all croaky morning voices. 

She tapped on the glass lightly like a woman picking out a ring in a jewellery shop. ‘ **That’s the one!’**. The thought of Hunter being worried about her not coming home last night ever crossed her mind. The thought of Hunter even thinking about her anymore was alien to Cassie. 

Indelible memories of her and Hunter's first few months together washed over her. She was drenched in the adventures, late night explorations, the dolphin heists, everything that made her grateful for coming to Jardim. After this, she was going to tell Hunter that she wanted out, wanted to go home, back to the real world. Not this fake microcosm.

Hunter was in fact worrying where she was, her phone still on the kitchen counter and walkie talkie on the sofa. Him and Samara spent the early morning searching for her. Hunter seemed poised, but inside his worry grew. He clasped his hand firmly on the revolver in his sports jacket pocket, making sure Sammie couldn’t see much. 

‘She might be in the pool maybe?’ Samara said.

‘Why would she be there without a spotter?’ Hunter held the gun even tighter.

‘Why should she have to be in there at all?’ A frown fell on Samara’s face, a judgemental frown that made Hunter abashed.

‘Sammie!’ 

Samara turned her head in the open field they stood in to see Cassie running across carrying two bucket’s of fish. Hunter was offended that she didn’t greet or acknowledge his presence at all.

‘Cass! where have you been?’ He ran towards her and snatched one of the heavy buckets out of her hands.

‘I went to get fish for King, me and you will feed him today okay?’ Again, not acknowledging Hunter’s presence and looking directly at Samara. 

‘We’ve been worried about you Cass.’ Samara moved a strand of hair covering Cassie’s eyes. 

‘I’m glad you were, but you don’t need to be because I got tired after swimming in tropical so I just slept on a bench. I’m fine.’ She turned to Hunter and stared at him for awhile. 

‘You are a weird one, Cass’ He smiled and took her free hand. She smiled as well and went along with it. 

King III’s first official breakfast at C.LionHeart waters was a bucket of frozen fish. His reaction to this left Cassie and Samara thinking they were being very generous. He was a King after all.

Every day of the week before ‘Blue hour’ King practiced a small stunt with Cassie standing beside the pool. If he did it well, he would be fed a fish, if he didn’t, no fish for him. The tricks were fairly simple, he would spiral into the air, touch an inflatable ball and fall down again. He was accustomed to this regime but that didn’t mean he liked it. As Well as the training, every afternoon he endured one of Cassie’s verbal emotional exertions. She believed that King was a good therapist in some weird way. This caused excitement in her to actually get into the pool with him, ‘Blue hour’ was going to be her parting gift from the captive animal world.

24th August was the day of ‘Blue Hour’. Around 2,900 visitors that day with a crowd of 400 people to view the new addition to C.LionHeart waters accommodation. Cassie woke up that morning in her own bed. Hunter was already awake, darting up and down the living room. Cassie walked down the stairs and was met with Hunter's lit up face, the same face she was greeted with when she walked into the office around a week before.

‘You ready Cass, have you seen the numbers? Plus, not a protestor in sight!’ Hunter ended his sentence with an enthusiastic jump. He was happy, but it didn’t resonate at all with the epiphanic euphoria he had on their first date. That euphoria would never happen to Hunter or Cassie again. He thought it was the same, but it wasn’t. 

‘I’m kinda nervous seeing as I haven’t even been in the pool properly with him.’ Cassie headed for the straw-woven fruit basket on the kitchen counter.

‘It’ll be fine, you don’t have to do like a choreographed performance, just swim with him a bit. Show he’s a friendly guy so no one will be scared of him. He is friendly, Cass.’ He clung onto his gun and said ‘I won’t let anything happen to you.’

She blew him a half-hearted kiss. He did it back to her. 

She was unaware of what she was actually going to do in the water, but she felt as though she was about to fly to the moon. She wished she could fly to the moon.

‘You’re gonna go down and see him Cass?’ Hunter appeared from the arched entrance way into the kitchen, two house plants on both sides of him.

‘Yeah, someone has to feed him and I'd rather it be me’. She mannerly covered her banana-stuffed mouth while talking.

‘Yeah, yeah don’t go too crazy you need to save some energy till tonight’ Hunter advised.

‘Blue hour isn’t actually night it’s basically just before it gets dark’. Cassie’s factual comment didn’t get through to Hunter because he was heading out the kitchen before she finished.

Cassie slipped into her wetsuit and wrapped her purple kimono round her shoulders. The attire looked very peculiar, red flip flops, blue wetsuit and purple kimono, but it satisfied Cassie so she just went with it.

She strolled through her daily nature route making a slight detour to pick a visually ripe orange off a tree. She peeled off the skin, smelt it, then dropped it in the pockets of her kimono. The orange itself wasn’t particularly nice, but it gave her a bit more energy to walk the long trek to the Arctic archipelago dome.

The morning was fine, Cassie plopping fish into King’s extended cotton candy pink mouth. She gazed in amazement at the rapid disappearance of the dishevelled salmon in the equivocal abyss that was King's throat. He expanded his blue precipice shaped tongue as if he was trying to touch his nose. A small ‘awww’ came from behind Cassie. She turned and saw it was Samara. 

‘He is lovely isn’t he.’ Cassie bent down to tap him gently on the nose. They were forming a relationship. Progress was being made, trepidation was slowly, ever so slowly dissipating.

‘I like his face because it always looks like he’s always smiling.’ Samara hooked her arm with Cassies. ‘You excited?’

‘I am a little.’ 

‘He likes you Cassie.’ Samara nudged Cassie's hip.

‘He likes the fish you mean,’

‘He likes his food, nothing wrong with that,’ 

‘You’re gonna come be my spotter today okay?’ Cassie asked.

‘Sure, you’ll be fine today.’

‘I hope so.’

Cassie made her way down the stairs to the Arctic Archipelago dome to see King through the oval shaped window. Hunter was there, standing in his burgundy Armani suit. She stood beside him, both gazing through the window in the underwater viewing area. Cassie slipped her hand through his pocket to reach his. Only reaching his wrist before Hunter jerked and batted her hand away-He had the revolver in his pocket. He didn’t tell her about it, he just felt that it’ll be better if she didn’t know. A perplexed look fell on Cassie’s face. 

‘Sorry.’ Hunter paused ‘Your hands are cold.’

‘My hands have been sweating all day Hunter.’ She cupped her hands together as if to show Hunter the amount of liquid emanating from her palms.

‘Sweat ,yeah sorry I meant sweaty, I don’t like people who sweat Cass, stay away from me.’ Hunter teasingly pushed her shoulder away but then pulled her closer. They put their arms around each other. ‘I love you Cassie, I’m really happy we made this together.’ 

‘So am I, but Hunter I don’t want to do this for too long,’ The words jumped out her mouth like a weight lifting off her. She just had to tell him.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I wanna go travelling, do the things I planned myself,’ Cassie ducked her head under to get out of Hunter’s hold.

‘I can’t just up and leave Cass.’ Hunter frowned, the darkness in his eyes rising.

‘I know, but I can, all this has been for you why can’t I do something for myself.’ Cassie was shocked at the ever so quick acceleration of her anger.

‘The whole time we’ve been together you’ve never even taken me to London Hunter, never asked if to go back to Orlando. You have enough here, you’ve made a world for yourself but this world isn’t for me.’ She backed away, hoping to avoid an altercation. 

how can this big old fish be able to live in this bathtub with no complaints but you’re unhappy with fields and fields of paradise before you go home to your mansion that you yourself chose!’ Hunter rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes, pearls of dark green: hunter green.

‘We’ll talk about this later’ A slight tremble of Cassie's lips indicated to Hunter that he may have overreacted. 

He didn’t admit that to her however, ‘Okay sure.’ He averted his glance back to the oval-shaped glass window, the black dot getting more distinguishable. King pressed his blue tongue against the glass and Hunter chuckled. 

‘The oceans just down there Hunter.’ Cassie walked up the stairs as her voice echoed through the dome. It lingered around but not enough; it somehow never got through to Hunter. He seemed to have formulated a wall in his mind that blocked any opposing thoughts or ideologies from entering his psyche. The wall may have had a few crevices that could be crawled through, but it was fairly robust.

The ‘Blue hour’ crowd was getting seated around 5:30pm. Each viewer heaved out the Arctic Archipelago dome to ascend up the stairs of the open air ice-aged themed stadium above King III’s pool. His pool was divided into two: the al fresco area by the bottom of the ice aged stadium, and the rear side could be seen through the oval shaped glass window in the Arctic Archipelago's underwater viewing area.

Cassie was standing on a podium by the side of the display pool, watching the crowd settle. Samara handed her a microphone and a moral supporting wink. This was the easy part: saying a few cheesy lines, finish with a pretty smile, and an iconic batting of her eyelashes.

‘Happy blue hour everyone! We’re all very excited to give an official welcome to our newest member of the C.LionHeart waters family!’ Cassie turned her head back to the pool. She could see a black dot in the stagnant water around 27 feet deep, it looked to her as though he was conversing with Hunter on the other side of the glass. _**King's**_ **_my therapist._ ** Cassie thought. She turned back to the crowd. 

‘This is his first time meeting a big crowd so he may be a lil’ shy, nothing like a nice bucket-o-salmon to get em’ going!’ She lifted the bucket so the crowd could see. She blew her whistle and in a few moments King was ploughing through the surface of the water. According to the audience that deserved delayed applause. He swam to Cassie’s podium, mouth agape, reading for food. 

‘You hungry your majesty?’ Her voice projected from the microphone throughout the radius of the Arctic Archipelago. 

She swung the fish above King’s nose teasingly. She hopped from side to side maintaining King’s attention; his head moved in unison with Cassie’s lateral jumping. If King was a human (or if she had further knowledge of animal behaviour), Cassie would be able to recognise King’s growing frustration, but he wasn’t so she didn’t really know. Thus, she proceeded in her dynamic hopping. She eventually gave in and dropped the King’s dinner in the cotton-candy pink abyss. There were many more fish in the bucket, she continued with her playful teasing. ‘Dinner fit for a king yeah!’ Cassie shouted into the microphone before passing it back to Samara. 

Cassie was reaching near the bottom of the bucket, the ice scratching her knuckles causing blood to drip down her fingernails. ‘Only a few more now okay?’ This was just a quiet whisper to both herself and King.

Just a few more then it will be over and done with.

The scrapes of the scrunched up ice pierced through Cassie’s skin for the last time, she got to the end of the bucket. Cassie didn’t know that King knew this, she among many in the captive animal industry deeply underestimated Orcas intelligence. The rustling of the ice indicated to him that dinner was over.

**King III grew up not knowing when he will have his next meal. Mediocre splash of his dorsal fin could leave him without food for a good while. He was alert when it came to food. He was always alert when in contact with the homo sapiens species. King was still hungry, he needed more than just fish, he was a King, he deserved a palace, not this bathtub.**

Cassie’s arm extended with the last fish in her hand. She looked as though she was gesturing to King, a friendly help out of the pool. This courteous was not reciprocated. The cotton-candy pink abyss closed over Cassie’s arm.

**The Trainers weren’t ignorant, they weren’t in denial, they were completely oblivious. Secreted cases of fatalities and deaths of trainers by not just the King dynasty, but multiple captive orcas across the world. Years and years of exploitation, forced chemical consumption, artificial insemination, the physical disfigurements and much more can really fracture a living thing’s mental stability. There is only so much they can live through, the sun can’t radiate optimism for you to reflect on a façade of grandiosity. The sun will contract back under the horizon, the sky will be a bright blue canvas that they just need to plough through sometimes or else they will suffocate. The trainers will be blamed because dead trainers no longer feed the masterminds money, they need the orcas however so they will downplayed the orcas' ‘tendencies’ from the trainers and spectators because no one should know the evil under those cetacean eyes. But under those eyes isn’t evil, it's the reflection of the evil subjugating them. The malevolence they have to live through transforms into exasperating indignation.**

Hunter decided to watch 'Blue Hour' in the underwater viewing area. He felt awkward standing by the side of the pool after his and Cassie’s last conversation. Besides, he didn’t want to get his burgundy Armani suit wet. He felt bad, he felt as though he’s been less attentive to Cassie these last few years. He was a busy man, Cassie knew that, she was a busy woman herself. When he first met her she told him her aspirations for being a travel writer, she paused this pursuit to help him build up this park. 

But he just couldn’t fathom why she would want to leave, this place literally had everything in just slightly small portions. Mangoes, oranges, fields, trees, smoothies, towels, water, sun rises, sunsets, blue hours. The ocean was right there, but what is so special about the ocean? Hunter’s internal wall had somehow kicked out the memory of their first date, the aquatic trail through the ocean. The epiphanic euphoria was gone, there are only so many times a person can have an epiphany.

Hunter saw Cassie diving in, there was something odd about it, very ferocious. Hunter squinted his eyes and cupped his hands on the sides of his face while pressed against the glass. Her head and arms weren’t visible, her legs kicked in the water like two forceful scissors. Hunter heard the deafening synchronisation of the chaotic crowd. Hunter couldn't tell what was going on; either Cassie was performing an ambitious stunt, or the unthinkable.

The unthinkable, unimaginable, unbelievable. Hunter stood frozen, he couldn't move, he just watched the ambiguous display before him. The only part of him animated was his hand on the revolver in his pocket, squeezing it harder and harder until the tips of his fingers were bleeding and bruises were formulating on his palm. This wasn’t happening, of course it wasn’t, this scenario shouldn’t even be in the picture. 

It was though, Hunter knew it deep down he always knew what was happening, what he was doing, what he wanted to do. He was in denial, bricks of avarice in his internal wall fuelled his denial, no criticisms got in. He built the wall, he wasn’t oblivious, he was in denial. He was one of the masterminds.

Dark blood was lingering around King’s mouth. Cassie's arm has been dishevelled by his stalactite teeth. She flung her now only arm around the water causing a minor stir compared to the colossal whirlpool caused by King’s tail. Cassie was panicking she knew she should stay calm but she couldn’t. She thrusted her head forward to reach the surface. It was futile; King was darting downwards with what was left of her arm submerged in his mouth. Her anthropic limbs were no match for the resistance caused by this powerful specimen, pulling her deeper and deeper. The desperation in her desire to swim up was clear, screams fell out her mouth in exchange for lumps of chlorine water. She could see a vague outline of a face, hoping it was Hunter. It was Samara. The paucity of Cassie’s clear vision (due to the current circumstances) caused her to believe Samara had an apathetic, blank face. This was not the case, Samara was screaming unintentionally in unison with Cassie. They had no idea what to do, no backup plan if this was to happen, but they all knew this was a possibility. 

Hunter stood, watching, still in denial about what was happening to his wife. He couldn’t face it. He just couldn’t. He was pulled by the lapel of his burgundy Armani suit, a bony hand intruding his pocket. ‘We need the gun Hunter!’ It was Tilli’s voice, he couldn’t see Tilli. His eyes were fixated on the black dot in the bathtub getting closer and closer to him, now with dangling limbs flowing out his mouth. ‘I don’t wanna... no... no please.’ Hunter's voice was cracked with moaning cries and tears, that was to Tilli perceived as juvenile fear. He shook Hunters lapel vivaciously knocking Hunters head back and forth like a pendulum, his eyes still fixated on the black dot in the bathtub. 

‘For fuck sake give me the fucking gun!’ Saliva hurled from the gaps in Tillis teeth and fell on Hunter's pale face.

‘I can’t no please stop this can’t no I don't wanna.’ Hunter buried his head on Tilli’s shoulder for comfort but Tilli copped the locks on the top of Hunters head and pulled him to the floor. 

‘Remember who the fuck you are Hunter.’ The gun fell to the floor, the small  clamp  was barely audible over the chaos jutting in the ice aged-theme stadium. Tilli swooped the gun in his hand and charged up the stairs. Hunter was whaling on the floor, eyes still fixated on the black dot in the bathtub. 

The world paused for a minute. The black dot was now closer, pressing against the glass, it’s features now distinguishable. Hunter could see Cassie’s pale face, eyes closed now, he would never be able to see her ocean eyes again. That was it. She had drowned. Her body now getting smaller and smaller as it was sucked and chipped through the dark cotton-candy abyss like a shredder. Dark red was now glowing through the Arctic Archipelago. The blue was now gone, her eyes were now gone forever, all that was left in that moment was Hunter and King III. They stared at each other. Kids were screaming, trainers were blowing their whistles over the instant grieving of their boss. Buckets flying in the air. The rustling bottleneck of the crowd attempting to vacate the stadium down the spiralling stairs. All of that was white noise to Hunter.

Hunter’s crying was now paused, mesmerised by this twisted, revolting and obscene performance. King peeled back his mouth to expose his red-coated teeth, rocks of skull resting in the crevices of his gums like sweetcorn. There was some sort of telepathic transmission between the killer whale and the man. Hunter wasn’t looking through a window, he was looking through a mirror. A mirror that exemplifies the pain man has inflicted. The suffering in King III’s eyes communicated to Hunter a question that will transcend the man-made wall of his psyche. The question hovered over the left side of his shoulder repeating itself in a rhetorical but monotonal cadence. Hunter couldn’t work out where he recognised the voice, but it terrified him to the bone. He was put under a trance by this external incantation slicing through his mind:

**You see this, look, look at this, who’s the real villain here?**

Hunter gulped. He ran up the stairs to the pool, indignation growing, who the indignation was directed at Hunter didn’t know. He didn’t know much anymore. He knew that Cassie was gone. The love of his life was gone. This money making machine was deteriorating. The nuts and bolts in the factory chipped. The machines have crumbled. 

These thoughts obviously formulated deep into his subconscious, his conscious was in disarray. The moment of odd telepathic communication between the man and the killer whale only lasted ten seconds but to Hunter it was eternity. Hunter heard the banging shots of a gun followed with a ‘Come up you fucking bitch!’ Tilli was waving the gun in one hand and an odiously-stenched fish in the other. He stood with his legs spread. Hunter couldn’t tell who he was scared of more, King, Tilli or himself. 

The realisation of his future fell on him instantly like the harsh precipitation of rain in a storm as he gazed down upon the pool. Tilli was at the edge, Samara staring back at Hunter, eyes red from the perennial tears. He screamed after every bam of the revolver. 

‘Stop! p-please I can’t.’ Hunter headed for the pool but was scooped up by Samara’s extended arms. 

‘I know just.. It’s okay it’s okay.’ Samara wrapped her hands around Hunter’s head, trying to stop him from charging forward into the pool. More shots aimed at the deeply submerged Killer Whale under the water. 

Bam. Bam. Bam. 

Each shot catalysed an acrimonious pain in Hunter’s head, the jeopardisation was exemplified with a sharp scream.

‘No-please-stop, he-he k-killed her-r h-he did, he did!’ Hunter's screeches were cut into segments with gagged up saliva that poured on Samara’s shoulder. 

‘Come up you fucking pussy!’ Tilli took one last shot aimed at the air before he darted the revolver on the floor and knelt just on the edge of the pool. The crowd had been rushed out impressively swift. The trainers directed them from the Arctic Archipelago to the C.LionHeart waters exit. They will never come again. 

The damage was already done, they saw Cassie get pulled in, they saw the beauty in her eyes transform into terror. 

There was silence for a moment, King eventually surfaced for air, Hunter couldn’t see much over his distorted vision; his eyes were flooded with tears. Samara cradled Hunter like a baby, she herself was distraught. Tilli’s mouth was agape by the side of the pool, watching the killer whale slither through the obscure blend of blood and chlorine water. He couldn’t see Hunter’s face from behind him, but he could feel the stampede of painful guilt in his cries. The remnants of a body; fingers, strands of hair, feet, floated through the liquid causing a circular shape around the centre of the pool. The visitors that were in the park but not in the know were told by the announcers to vacate the premises, they will be refunded on a later date. No one was ever going to come back here.

Amaya Rodgers stood in the C.Lionheart waters head office, hands shaking while dialling 112, the Portuguese emergency number, she didn’t know who to call and wasn’t fluent.

‘I’d like to report uh well, I-I think a death.’ Anchors of grief dragged her down as she said the word ‘death.’

The language barrier caused excruciating pain on Amaya on top of her shock. She couldn't understanding what they were saying on the other line of the phone. She passed the phone to Juan D'Souza; she couldn’t deal with the miscommunication concerning something so horrific. For once she didn’t feel like talking. She turned to the window of the office, below she saw Matthias LionHeart. He was rubbing the back of his neck while blowing out cigarette smoke from his mouth. He had a gun. How did he get it? The LionHearts were very powerful people she knew that. _**It’s best not to question what the LionHearts do**_ , she thought, _**or you’ll end up like her**_. No she can’t think like that, ‘don’t say things like that.’ She muttered under her breath. She sank into the creamy blue sofa, tears rolling down her eyes as she looked up at the fluorescent lights. 

The killer whale was excited when he got here, what was he excited for? A chance for a better life? Or a chance for revenge? 

She turned her head forward, ‘Hunter LionHeart's office’ door slammed firmly shut. Or maybe it was slightly ajar, she couldn’t tell, it’s been a long day. She didn’t know whether to go in, she thought she’d knock, make sure he’s okay. She tiptoed to the door while pointing at it to gesture to Juan she was going to try and see Hunter. Juan was informing the opposite end of the line of the tragedy, whether it was the police or an ambulance, Amaya couldn’t tell. It had been a long day. He nodded to Amaya almost half-heartedly as if to say ‘be careful.’ She nodded in a way that was to say ‘affirmative.’ She knocked on the door, no answer. Her first guess was right, it was firmly shut. She thought it best to leave, it had been a long day. All these questions, most of them were inconveniently directed to the one person that had no possible way of answering her. You can’t speak to animals, no one can.

Hunter couldn’t speak to animals either, but he could speak to himself. He sat in his desk seat with a blanket wrapped around him, eyes pinned on his own creamy blue sofa in his office. His eyes didn’t want to avert his eyes back to the window, he didn’t want to peer down at his park with his dark green eyes ever again. Tears ran down his cheeks, as one fell on the wooden desk another one was made and sent off on their journey by the lacrimal glands. The wall had been demolished by a bulldozer, a bulldozer of sorrow, melancholy, gloom, fear, grief, trepidation, mournful regret. These feelings pushed a side to him down to the visceral place in his psyche. An unreachable locked up chest. This somehow dragged down his charisma, persuasion and wit. It was still there though, still part of him. The Hunter LionHeart that would occasionally creep out for air and show his face to Cassie. He had ‘tendencies’, just like the King dynasty. This side was locked away now, but still there, still thinking, processing, talking.

_**It's okay. It’s okay. No, I’m scared. Wait no. Isn’t it scientifically proven now that animals behave differently depending on the fullness of the moon? No. Yes that’s true. Is that true for all animals? Yes. Must be. It is, we’ll go on the news and say that. This happened because animals behave differently depending on the fullness of the moon. The temperature at which we freeze the food we give to our animals. The amount of people in the crowd. The material of our wetsuits. The colour of her hair. No. It’s not our fault. It’s the moons fault. We can’t control the moon. Was the moon even out? Blue hour? But we can control the animal? Yes. No. we can’t do that either. Why do we have them? Why did this have to happen? My Cassie, my beautiful Cassie, you killed her. you fucking ass hole. I’m going to kill you. Who am I talking to?** _

_**Who’s the real villain here?** _

  
  


PSP Jardim police interview: 26th August 2013

Officer Pagano: What is your name?

Hunter LionHeart: Hunter LionHeart

Officer Pagano: I’m just going to be asking you some questions about what you saw, what you know about the King III, and what information Maritimus park gave you. Is that okay?

Hunter LionHeart: Yes

Officer Pagano: So first of all what did you see exactly?

Hunter LionHeart: I saw well, h-her get dragged in I-I didn’t know much about what was happening. I was confused.

Officer Pagano: Did you see any resistance?

Hunter LionHeart: what do you mean?

Officer Pagano: Like was she clearly struggling?

Hunter LionHeart: Well she obviously was but I couldn’t see, she was too far away. I just saw the blood. Please don’t ask me any more questions about it. I don’t know how it happened. Please just no.

Officer Pagano: Do you know how Matthias LionHeart got possession of the gun?

Hunter LionHeart: I don’t know, the LionHearts are powerful people, that’s what he told me anyway.

Officer Pagano: So you weren’t shocked when he pulled out the gun?

Hunter LionHeart: No.

Officer Pagano: Did Matthias ever show any indication that he was prepared to use the gun against King specifically?

Hunter LionHeart: No, he doesn’t know much about animals, he probably just thought it was a fish. He likes guns I guess, I don’t know.

Officer Pagano; Is he prone to carrying guns around?

Hunter LionHeart: In dangerous situations, I guess he’d want to defend himself.

Officer Pagano: How would he know it was a dangerous situation, if he thought it was just a fish.

Hunter LionHeart: oh my god, I don’t know okay? Ask him not me.

Officer Pagano: Okay Mr LionHeart, are you happy to answer questions about King III himself?

Hunter LionHeart: Yes

Officer Pagano: Were you aware of the medication Maritimus Park had him on? Do you know why?

Hunter LionHeart: Yeah, the antipsychotics

Officer Pagano: Were you aware of his ‘tendencies’?

Hunter LionHeart: I knew why they had him on medication if that’s what you mean.

Officer Pagano: So you knew he was capable of pulling?

Hunter LionHeart: He’s an animal, I-I don’t know what he can do.

Officer Pagano: Then why would you buy him? Not only buy him but let his wife get in a pool with him?

Hunter LionHeart: S-t-op no please. I-I can’t.

Officer Pagano: Take your time.

Hunter LionHeart: I bought him because he can attract money, yeah.

Officer Pagano: Had Cassie been in the pool with him prior to the incident.

Hunter LionHeart: No.

Officer Pagano: Why not?

Hunter LionHeart: I don’t really know if she did.

Officer Pagano: Was she experienced with training animals, more specifically orcas.

Hunter LionHeart: Not with killer whales but with dolphins and beluga whales and stuff.

Officer Pagano: So this is essentially a marine park am I correct?

Hunter LionHeart: Yeah. I don’t know.

Officer Pagano: Are all these animals yours?

Hunter LionHeart: Yeah.

Officer Pagano: Do you train them?

Hunter LionHeart: Most of them.

Officer Pagano: for entertainment.

Hunter LionHeart: I don’t know.

Officer Pagano: Sometimes humans need to understand that we just don’t know what these animals are thinking. We can’t keep tigers as pets. We can’t ride on lions. We can’t get bears to dance. We can’t get orcas to jump through hoops. When people understand this there will be less money in these places.

Hunter LionHeart: This place was supposed to be good. I-I would never let this happen. No

Officer Pagano: Okay. So you bought King III with the knowledge that he has ‘tendencies’ and so takes medication.

Hunter Lionheart: We were told that he had behavioural issues.

Officer Pagano: So you were advised to give him this medication?

Hunter LionHeart: Yes when we thought necessary.

Officer Pagano: Okay, thank you Mr LionHeart. We are working with the police department over in Spain to investigate the Maritimus park regarding the multiple cases of injury inflicted on the trainers. These cases were mostly instigated by King III and other whales.

Hunter LionHeart: We knew nothing of them.

Officer Pagano: Okay Mr Hunter. This is all we need. Do you mind if we look at King’s profile?

Hunter LionHeart: Sure, I can find it. But there's nothing else on there that I haven’t told you about. 

Officer Pagano: Okay, but we should look. Thank you for your time Mr Hunter. We offer our condolences of course. We’ll be in touch. 

Hunter LionHeart: Sure, okay. The profile told us nothing. We knew nothing.

Officer Pagano: Okay. Thank you, Mr LionHeart. I’ll see myself out.

**A man sits on the far end of a plastic sunbed, about 20m of jerked sand separating him from the sea. The man slowly breathed out smoke from the small o-shape formed in his nicotine-stained mouth. The man’s greasy brown locks slightly hindered his view of the beach, concealing the kids building sandcastles, the snorkelers, the cocktail bars. The intense sun surged over the setting, emitting stratified rays of impotent yellow over the man's malnourished face. Water moves at a constant perpetual momentum, only so often the mechanism shifts, and this is only temporal. The man clamped his vacant hand over the front right pocket of his reebok swimming trunks; slightly denatured by the presence of a revolver, Arminius HW 357 revolver to be exact. He felt the outline of it and internally shivered. The man dropped his cigarette on the floor like a child would drop a toy once they’ve finished playing with it. He then stood up, the revolver agonisingly dug into his right thigh, as if it was attempting to pierce through his skin. His face remained nonchalant however. Just a nonchalant, laid-back man wanted to go for a casual swim. He ran his hands through his greasy brown locks, dirty fingernails seemed at home travelling through his hair. The man continued forward to the sea, each step he took came with a clamp sound projecting from his red rubber flip flops. You could see the outline of his thin torso through his transparent kimono. He reached the outskirts of the water (closest thing he’s had to a bath in a while). Slowly, the man walked through while simultaneously descending into ocean territory. The man halted when only his shoulder upwards hadn’t been consumed by the blue abyss. The man lined his head with the revolver. Slowly, he reduced the liminal space between him and the gun until they were touching. The hot sweat deriving from his right temple dripped down the side of the muzzle. A distorted cry escaped his lips. The red rubber flip flops were camouflaged in the dissolving blood, the concentration increasing as seconds went by. His floating kimono caused a trichotomous colour palette of purple, red and blue. If you listened really carefully, perhaps if man developed echolocation, you could’ve heard a black fish swimming freely 3,000 kilometres away.**

**The man went to sea, a place which subverts his fundamental biological characteristics. He could not possibly survive there without suffocating. He died. Man has spent over 500 million years of constant evolution to be able to inhabit land. Why on God’s green Earth would they want to revert back? Except the Earth isn’t green, it’s blue. An ambiguous blue for that matter.**

Looking at this story from a business perspective, Hunter was an Icarus, flying too close to the sun. An extreme and fatal case of shiny object syndrome you might say. A type of story Frank LionHeart would read in the Daily mail while eating his breakfast and remark ‘Chap got too big for his boots, people caught ‘em slackin’.

but from the perspective in which everything with a heartbeat attains, every living thing with a conscience, feelings. Hunter’s story was a story of consequences caused by degradation, the absence of liberation for animals and humans alike. The cyclical nature of animals killing humans, humans killing animals, humans killing humans, animals killing animals since the dawn of time.

_**Who’s the real villain here?** _

The aim of co-existing is futile if there’s nothing left to co-exist.


End file.
